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Essays On Human Capital, Growth And Innovation: Political Economy Perspective, Di Sima

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The dissertation explores the role of human capital, education, and political institutions in the process of economic and political development. The first chapter shows that economic development such as secondary school enrollment rates during the democratization period exerts long-lasting effects on growth, possibly by giving permanent birthmarks to newly minted democratic institutions. Specifically, democracies born in weak development tend to have weak institutions and slow growth, while in contrast, those with adequate development at the political transition time establish strong institutions and achieve faster growth. The second chapter explores the effect of curriculum control in schooling on national innovation and …