公共人力资本投资与长期经济增长--基于新中国“扫盲运动”的研究

Investment of Public Human Capital and Long-term Economic Growth:A Study Based on“The Literacy Campaign”of New China

新中国成立以来的"扫盲运动"为考察公共人力资本投资对经济增长的长期影响提供了契机。研究在Solow模型中引入私人人力资本和公共人力资本,发现公共人力资本投资能显著提升均衡公共人力资本水平,从而提高均衡产出;以1982年识字率作为"扫盲运动"的代理变量构建地市级横截面数据,实证结果显示,公共人力资本水平的提高显著促进长期经济增长,主要通过产业结构转型和就业市场表现两个渠道发挥对公共人力资本的影响,特别是对于相对贫困、欠发达、区位优势不明显的地区影响更大。

The literacy campaign(扫盲运动),which was launched after the founding of the People's Republic of China,provided an opportunity to observe and investigate the effect made by the investment of public human capital upon long-term economic growth.Firstly,this paper introduces the level of private and public human capital accumulation into the Solow model,and finds that the increase of government investment on public human capital can significantly improve the equilibrium level of public human capital and the accumulation of human capital,thus increasing the equilibrium output.Then,this paper chooses the literacy rate in 1982 as the proxy variable of the literacy campaign and constructs the cross-sectional database at the prefectural and municipal levels.The empirical results show that the increase of public human capital plays a significant role in promoting long-term economic growth at the municipal level,and it mainly exerts its influence upon public human capital through such two channels as the transformation of industrial structure and the performance of employment market.The increase of public human capital accumulation produces even greater influence upon the relatively poor,less developed and less geographically-advantageous areas,and alleviates the unbalanced growth among various regions.