The case of the effects of education on economic growth: Botswana and South Africa (1970--1994)

This study analyzes the effects of education on economic growth in two southern African countries of Botswana and South Africa. In this study, educational expansion is defined in terms of primary, secondary, and tertiary education. Derived from the theories of the relationship between education and economic growth, the approach presented argues that the positive relationship between education and the economy is dependent on certain characteristics of the economic and educational systems. Where human capital process operates, education will have a positive effect on economic growth. However, if education is structured in such a way as to produce the class structure, reflect status competition or institutional isomorphism, its effects will be blocked or limited.; The empirical analyses of this study specified the conditions under which education increases national economic growth. The research design for this study combined two types of data sources and methods: qualitative historical analyses and time series regression analyses. The historical analysis investigated the structure of the economic and educational systems and uses primary and secondary sources. The quantitative analysis examined the effects of primary, secondary, and tertiary education on four sectors of the economy; agriculture, mining, manufacturing, and service. The period of analysis is 1970–1994. The study relies on time series analysis, using data on education and economic growth. The three central questions posed by the study are; What has been the relationship between education and economic growth in Botswana and South Africa? Did education have an effect on economic growth? If so, under what conditions did education increase or impede economic growth? ; The findings from this study provide broad support for the theoretical perspective that views human capital process as conditional on the relation of education to the economy. The results of the study indicate that the structure and shape of education in both countries substantially dependent on class reproduction, status competition, and institutional isomorphism processes. Despite country specific institutional phenomenon the expansion of education in both cases was determined largely by these processes. Overall, the results of the study indicate that the myth of influenced the government, the population at large, status groups, and businesses to demand more schooling.