Human resource development and economic growth in China, 1949--1989: A longitudinal study

In 1949 the People's Republic of China (PRC) initiated a peasant-oriented communist development strategy which, at least until the early sixties, appeared to be comparatively successful in developing the economy and realizing greater equity. However, during the period 1969-1989, there were some indications that the PRC's rate of growth, measured by per capita total output, had slowed down.; The PRC has placed considerable emphasis on reorganizing the peasant economy and on state accumulation of capital for strategic infrastructure, agricultural, and industrial investments, while de-emphasizing human resource development (HRD). While most developing and developed societies spend between 3% and 7% of their GNP for human resource development, the PRC's expenditures over the 1949-1989 period have varied between 1.5% and 2.3%.; This raises the interesting possibility that the PRC strategy of low HRD investment was successful in bringing about economic development in the first decade after the communist revolution when agriculture was the most important industry, but has become less effective as the economy has shifted towards modern industry and services where the skills associated with advanced levels of education may be more critical.; This thesis leads to the following research questions: What kinds of historical, cultural and political factors have led to de-emphasizing Human Resource Development policy in the PRC?; How has Human Resource Development affected China's economic growth at the national and provincial levels during the period 1949-1989?; To investigate these questions, Part I of this study examines and reviews the HRD policy from its historical, cultural and political angles. Part II of this study examines the impact of HRD variables on the economic output at the national and provincial levels, using two types of econometric models: the indicator and the panel models.; This study has found that there are more significant positive impacts of the indicator variables on total output and industrial output during the period 1972-1989 than during that 1949-1971 nationwide. At the provincial level, the total output in the middle income provinces as well as industrial output in the high income provinces profited from its better educated labor force, trained at the level of junior high (S1) or senior high (S2).