The role of human capital in the growth of transition economies: The case of Central Asian countries

The importance of human capital in economic growth began to investigate since the second half of the 20th century and continues to this day. Especially today, when we live in the information, science and technology age the role of human capital in the economic growth is increasing. İn hundreds of studies including different periods and different groups of countries the econometric analysis demonstrated a strong relationship between human capital and economic growth. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between human capital and economic growth in the 4 transition economies of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan) during the period from 1991 to 2014. These countries have switched from command to market economy and having a good level of human capital before transitional period, but received major blows to the economy and human potential during the transitional process. İn econometric analysis we used the Johansen-Fisher and Kao panel cointegration, Panel FMOLS methods. The cointegration test results show that there is a cointegration relationship between human capital and economic growth in transition economies.