Economic performance of human capital in post-reform China

Provincial data are used to examine the economic performance of China's human capital, adjusted by mortality and interprovincial migration figures. The perpetual-inventory approach is used to compile China's human capital, which is further decomposed into skilled, unskilled, and different educational endowments. Statistical estimates are extended to the performance of four regions. The various human capital indicators are examined with different infrastructure variables. The empirical results show that human capital endowed with higher education is scarce across provinces, but skilled human capital can be improved by increasing the amount of secondary school education. Consideration of openness factors shows that foreign direct investment is complementary to the level of human capital endowed with higher education. © 2009 M.E. Sharpe, Inc. All rights reserved.