Human Capital and Nigerian Economy: ARDL Impact Investigation

d Appleton and Teal (1998), health and education are elements of human capital that support wellbeing. Thus, the two main perspectives on human capital investment are formed. The first sees human capital as limited to education and knowledge growth, while the second sees human capital as including both education and social health. 2.1.2 Development of the Economy Semantically 'Economic' and 'Growth' are combined to form the notion of economic growth. The management of the elements of production is called economics. Furthermore, growth is a gain in strength, value, quantity, or size. However, when seen through an economic lens, the terms 'economic' and 'growth' are combined to denote an improvement in the standard of living for the populace. According to Rangongo & Ngwakwe (2019), growth is a gradual process that entails increasing the amount of products and services produced in the economy. Jhingan (2005) went on to say that growth is defined as a country's quantitatively sustained rise in per capita production, which is supported by an increase in labor force and trade volume. This suggests that economic growth is the steady rise in an economy's production, followed by other growth-influencing elements like the expansion of human capital, infrastructure, and technology. Economic growth is defined as the percentage rate of increase in the real gross domestic product and is defined as the rise in the inflation-adjusted market value of the products and services generated by an economy over time (IMF, 2012). In a similar spirit, the World Bank (1993) defined economic growth as faster production and productivity growth; so, growth implies an increase in a nation's potential GDP. 2.2 Theoretical Literature The idea of education and health as an intangible asset, according to Romer (1986), is best understood as a stock of embodied and disembodied knowledge, which includes knowledge about health, entrepreneurship, education, information, and creativity. Live skills are those that are developed by investments in health, education, and work training, as well as via R&D initiatives and unofficial knowledge sharing. Sheehan (2012) defined human capital as the culmination of an individual's unique set of talents, knowledge, and skills. Still, Human capital is seen as a labor commodity that can be bought and sold from the standpoint of classical economic theory. This traditional view places a strong emphasis on how capital exploits labor. However, human capital development refers to the information, competence, skill, and health that one acquires via education, training, and health care, as opposed to the connotation that is often associated with the word labor. 2.3 Empirical Literatures Eze (2023) looked at how investments in human capital affected Nigeria's economic development from 1985 and 2021. Real Gross Domestic Product , inflation rate , exchange rate , government spending on education , government spending on health , primary school enrollment rate , secondary school enrollment rate , and tertiary school enrollment rate , as well as life expectancy at birth , are the variables included in the study. The study's principal conclusions are as follows: i) The impact of education spending on the country's economic growth was 43% positive and insignificant [P-value (0.8508) was greater than its significant value (0.05); ii) The impact of health spending on the country's economic growth was 8% positive and insignificant (P-value (0.1925) was greater than its significant value (0.05); iii) The impact of tertiary school enrolment rate on the country's economic growth was 48% positive and insignificant (P-value (0.2660) was greater than its significant value (0.05). According to the study's findings, Nigeria's economic development is positively and marginally impacted by investments in human capital. In their 2019 study, Rangongo and Ngwakwe examined the connection between economic development and investments in human capital in Kenya and South Africa, two sub-Saharan African nations. The findings demonstrate a significant correlation between the economic development of both sub-Saharan African nations and investments in workforce development. The values of the findings obtained from the time dummies are highlighted in the paper, demonstrating the importance of timing in the empirical investigation about the connection and the positive impact that education investment would have on economic growth when timing is taken into account. This suggests that making investments in human capital requires patience. In order to grow the amount of human capital in Africa, the study proposes recommended macroeconomic policymakers should provide more funds for high and in as well as universal primary education. This is because these institutions generate middle- as well as a high-level human capital. Chimezie (2019) looked at the connection between economic development and investments in human capital from 1980 to 2018. Primary School Enrolments , is the amount spent by the public on Schools, while Government Investment in Healthcare are the macroeconomic variables that have been chosen. In order to evaluate the short- and long-term relationships within the repressor and chosen regressand, multiple regression analysis utilizing a vector error correction model was the scientific approach used for this inquiry. The results show that although the chosen macroeconomic factors favour economic growth, their contribution is not very strong. A unidirectional causal relationship between primary school enrolments and economic development in Nigeria was found via the Granger causality test. Muhammad, Abiodun and Manzoor (2018) investigated how social and human capital relate to economic growth. Using panel data spanning 15 years and the general method of Moments , Random Effects (RE) and Fixed Effects (FE) models. According to the report, human capital can only contribute positively to per capita GDP development in the face of stronger legal frameworks and more economic possibilities. Economic possibilities really strengthen the contribution of human capital to progress. Using yearly time series data spanning from 1981 to 2015, Ogunleye, Owolabi, Sanyaolu, and Lawal (2017) investigated the relationship between human capital development and Nigeria's economic growth. The findings demonstrate that, as measured using the country's total economic output, the development of human capital has a major influence on economic growth. Theoretically, the indicators of human capital development secondary school enrollment, tertiary school enrollment, total government spending on health care, and total government spending on education show a favorable and computationally significant impact on Nigeria's economic growth, suggesting that these indicators are essential to the country's economic expansion. Olusola (2016) used a panel data technique and the Fixed Effect Model to examine and evaluate the effects of the development of both human and material capital on the economy in these two locations. The study discovered that investments in basic and postsecondary education increase human capital, which in turn increases GDP in developed regions. The results, however, also demonstrated that emerging nations have overlooked fundamental education at all levels in favor of university education, which may not be of high enough quality to add to GDP because of a weak foundation brought about by neglecting elementary and secondary education. Oboh, Rahmah, and Abu (2016) looked at how Nigeria's economic growth was affected by the development of human capital between 1970 and 2008. This association was determined using vectors correction for error analysis and the Johansen co-integration approach. The outcome suggests that the development of human capital significantly impacts Nigeria's economic growth. By analyzing the effects of FDI and human capital (HK) on economic development in 10 the Commonwealth of Indepe