HUMAN CAPITAL THRESHOLDS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN BRAZIL

This paper examines the convergence process in Brazil over the period 1985-2004, giving a special attention to the role of human capital in this process. Different measures of human capital are used in the growth regressions and the results show that they play a significant role in explaining the economic growth process. The evidence indicates that different levels of human capital have different impacts on per capita GDP growth, depending on the level of development of the regions. Lower levels of human capital explain better the convergence among the less developed states and higher levels of human capital are more adequate among the more developed states.