How Could the Enhancement of Education and Health Contribute to Economic Growth in South Korea?

Abstract

It is now widely agreed that investment in human capability, particularly in the areas of education and health, is a key factor for successful development. Previously, however, the dominant economic model for growth was based on the assumption that increasing physical capital was the primary driver for economic growth. Despite emphasis on the investment in human capital by many classical economists, including John Stuart Mill, Thomas Malthus, Adam Smith and Alfred Marshall, the idea that such investment, in particular education, should be treated as equally important as investment in physical capital for economic growth was revolutionary to many scholars until the 1960s (Myrdal 1968).