Human capital approaches in development and the analysis of human capital dimension in Turkey

ABSTRACT The level of human and physical capital of countries determines their success for economic development. The main purpose of developing countries (DCs), in addition to the economic growth, is to solve those structural imbalances, which occurs in the economic, social, cultural and political fields. Insufficient human and physical capital accumulation and inefficient use of sources in the development process in DCs, are the main problems preventing economic development. The quality of human factor together with insufficient physical capital accumulation, affects the use of sources and the development of physical capital remarkably. The level of technological development and the progress in the economic, social, cultural and political fields depend upon the importance given to the human factor. At present, it is acknowledged by many academicians that the developed countries known as the " information society" owes their high level development and technology to the importance given in investing the human factor. The literature show that human capital endowment of the countries are more significant factor than physical capital in economic development. According to the Theory of Human Capital which gives crucial role to the human factor in process of economic growth and structural change, human factor affects the total output directly. Increases in output depends upon the improvement of the quality of human capital. To the relevant theory, human capital factors affecting the quality of human being in the development process are those of invesment expenditures on education, health, nutrition, migration and accomodation. Then, the importance given to these human capital factors are vital in increasing the development level. Thus, the main purpose of the thesis is to examine the development and importance of the human capital in the development process. The study primarily analyses the economic development process and human capital factor theoretically. It also investigates and reviews the theoretical approaches in the literature on human capital. The last chapter