How Does Intangible Human Capital Impact Economic Growth in Less Developed Countries: Cambodia as a Case Study.

摘要

This study is an attempt to further the understanding of how intangible human capital impacts development and economic growth in less developed countries (LDCs). Under the discipline of economics, a fundamental assumption is that resources (land, labor, and capital) are scarce. In the growth accounting of neoclassical economics, human capital contributes to economic growth through the mechanism of technological progress. In 1957, Solow introduced the growth model and others proceeded to measure US economic growth through Total Factor Productivity (TFP). Within the TFP model, 1.1% out of an average 3.1% GDP of annual growth remains unexplained (Jones, p. 42). Recently, some economic scholars identified a positive correlation between human capital and social capital that significantly impacts development and economic growth. This sheds some light on and acknowledges that intangible human capital can contribute to economic growth. Psychological methods have been employed to measure "self-esteem and motivation," while political efficacy and trust have been measured within political economy as part of intangible capital. This study hopes to further explain economic growth by demonstrating the contribution of intangible human capital to development and economic growth in lesser developed countries. Using the t-test as a method with the total sample of N=272 to compare the means between control (n=133) and treatment (n=139) the results indicate a statistically significant difference between the mean of the control groups and the treatment groups (t= 4.1163, p=.0001). In other words, the result show that the intervention significantly increased self-esteem and motivation (with a treatment group mean of 4.899 compared to the control group mean of 4.487).