For example, proportion of students receiving technical specialties. But this is a lagged variable

One in my opinion good reference is: D. Acemoglu and F. Zilibotti, "Productivity Differences", Quarterly Journal od Economics, May 2001.

Hello Mwendabai,

This could be a powerful research work given the focus of the discourse on education and economic growth, however, to be able to understand the concept and identify the relevant intermediate variables to be used for your study I suggest you read the works of Prof. Simplice Asongu. He has more publications related to the current subject. Thank you!

The association between education and economic growth stems from the benefits of human capital within the economy. Educated individuals, especially those with higher levels of education, contribute significantly to the economic sector. They possess skills, familiarity with technology, innovative ideas, open-mindedness, and are more readily employable compared to their less educated counterparts. Furthermore, educated individuals tend to earn higher wages, leading to increased tax contributions to governments. On the health front, educated people tend to lead longer and healthier lives, further bolstering economic productivity and well-being.

https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/AEA-06-2019-0005/full/html

Practical implications

What is learnt from using Smooth Transition Regression models for the education-economic growth link is that the educational level of the population can be understood as a source of nonlinearities in the economic activity of a country (and of a region). Thus, depending on national and regional educational levels, economic growth behaves differently.

(citation from the source).

This nonlinear approach might be of interest to you Limpo mundia Mwendabai

Human capital accumulation undoubtedly fosters labor force participation, productivity, and so on. But an increased labour supply (in quality and quantity) needs to be matched by a similar increase in labour demand. If this does not happen, as in Italy in the last twenty years, the result is a substantial emigration of young skilled people (mainly towards other EU countries).

Please consider/ add on the quality of Higher education in this regard.

“Workers who adapt well to technological changes achieve higher productivity. Therefore, if labor productivity can be increased, higher economic growth can be achieved even if the labor force is fixed. Highly capable workers who adapt well to such technological changes are nurtured through education. Thus, the mediating variable between education and economic growth can be said to be technological change. Examples of technological change include the enhancement of computer performance, the advancement of artificial intelligence technology, the sophistication of robotics technology, and the improvement of mobility technology.”

The relationship between education and economic growth can be influenced by the following variables.

• Gross Capital Formation
• Human Capital
• Government Spending on Education
• Labour force
• Political stability and Rule of Law
• Cultural and institutional factors