Human Capital Accumulation And Economic Growth In Cities Studied

The urban economic growth is an important research topic in developmental economics. Many scholars from home and abroad have attempted , from geographical advantages, policy differences, external factors, cultural background, material capital investment, and other perspectives to interpret the economic growth of modern cities and difference in growth. However, as the development of the big cities is approaching to knowledge-based economy and the human capital is playing more and more important role in economic growth, these economic theories cannot completely explain the economic growth of modern cities and the difference of the growth.Based on this, this paper attempts to make up for the omissions and defects of the traditional theory of urban economic growth. In this paper, a framework of urban economic growth based on human capital is formulated by the author from the point of view of human capital, based on the existing human capital, economic growth and the theory of urban economic development. The author also tries to analyze the mechanism of this framework, and thereby provides a rational explanation for the economic growth of modern cities and the difference in growth.First of all, based on the general theory of human capital, the paper analyzes the characteristics of human capital accumulation in cities. According to the human capital investment and its result, the author distinguishes human capital investment from human capital accumulation cities and analyzes the relationship between the two as followings. In the closed conditions, investing in human capital is the only way to accumulate human capital in cities. But if human capital can flow freely, human capital accumulation can be achieved through not only human capital investment, but also human capital gathering in cities-external human capital flowing into the cities. The distinction between the two concepts effectively explains the conflict phenomenon of "high investment, low accumulation, but low growth" and "low investment, high accumulation, but high growth", which generally exists during urban economic growth,and help us to profoundly understand the relationship between human capital and urban economic growth.Secondly, take Xi'an and Shenzhen City as an example, the paper provides the empirical analysis of the relationship between the human capital accumulation and its structure and the urban economic growth. The result shows that there is a close connection between them. The higher accumulation of human capital can facilitate rapid economic growth in cities. At the same time, urban economic growth also can promote human capital accumulation. But in the early stages of economic development, human capital accumulation plays a limited role in promoting economic growth. With the advance of the stage of economic development, human capital accumulation will play more and more significant role in economic development. Thus, the structure of human capital accumulation and urban economic growth are interacted by each other. At different stages of urban economic development, there are different requests for the structure of human capital investment and that of human capital accumulation. In the certain level of human capital accumulation, the difference in the structures of human capital accumulation will become the major reason for the difference in urban economic growth. The adjustment, upgrading and optimization of the structure can facilitate rapid growth of urban economy.Again, take Xi'an and Shenzhen City as an example, the paper analyzes the mechanism of how human capital accumulation affects urban economic growth. Firstly, from the perspective of the industrial structure, the paper analyzes the effect of the human capital accumulation through the upgrading of the industrial structure and industry concentration on the urban economic growth; Secondly, from the viewpoint of economics of new system, the author analyzes how the human capital accumulation through human capital system influences the urban economic growth. Thirdly, from the viewpoint of innovation, it analyzes the effect of the structure of human capital accumulation (professional and technical human capital and entrepreneurs) through technological innovation and systematical innovation on urban economic growth. Finally the paper reaches the conclusions that the effect of human capital accumulation on the urban economic growth is achieved through the related upgrading of the industrial structure, industry concentration, the human capital system and the urban innovation. The formation of upgrading the industrial structure, industry concentration, the human capital system and the differences between urban innovation caused by human capital accumulation and the difference in the structures will enlarge or reduce effect of human capital accumulation on economic growth.Finally, based on the theoretical and empirical analysis, the author proposes accelerating human capital accumulation and adjusting the structure of human capital to enhance economic growth. These proposals include establishing a new type of people-oriented urban development concept; laying urban edge industry as the foundation of adjusting human structure and following the path to specialize human capital, carrying out the institutional innovation and reforming the urban educational system, establishing and perfecting the system of property rights in human capital, human capital allocation and incentive mechanisms, and the flow and accumulation mechanism of human capital, and adjusting the structure of the human capital accumulation, reforming the innovative models of cities.In short, this paper focusing on the effect of human capital on urban economic growth, analyzes the transformation of the mode of urban economic growth and growth source under the conditions of knowledge-based economy. This paper emphasizes that the traditional rough mode of economic growth should be transformed into the intensive, scientific mode of economic growth. In this way, the author indicates that knowledge, technology and human capital are playing a in fundamental role in economic growth of modern cities.