Measuring the Interdependence between Economic Growth and Human Development in South Africa
Keywords:
Economic growth; human development; GDP; gross national income; standard of living; well-being; economic welfare; life expectancy; educationAbstract
This paper measures the interdependent between economic growth and human development in South Africa. Objective. Therefore the objective of this paper is to examine if interdependence exists between economic growth represented by GDP and the variables of human development (life expectancy, standard of living and education). Prior work. This paper is inclined on the theory of economic welfare, which advocates the measuring of economic growth by including the wellbeing of all and not to concentrate on GDP alone which is somewhat asymmetry. Approach. Data on South Africa’s economic growth and human development index were collected from the World Bank archives of economic indicators and from the United Nations Development Programme. Data were analysed using the vector auto-regression (VAR) and the Granger causality Wald tests. Results: Findings show that economic growth in South Africa is dependent on the achievement of human development variables namely health or life expectancy, standard of living or GNI and education. Implications: provides insight toward improving the constituents of human development to ensure a combination of economic growth and wellbeing; the paper provides a teaching case for the academia. Value. Based on the causality results, this paper contributes by providing a model for further research.
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