Here - SAARC Human Resource Development Centre

Link between Human Resource Development, Growth and Povertythan the USA and UK, though their economic growth is not higher than the later. Sois the case with Sri Lanka in South Asia and Kerala within India. The presentmarket driven economic growth does not facilitate “good and safe workingconditions, freedom to choose jobs and livelihoods, freedom of movement andspeech, liberation from oppression, violence and exploitation, security frompersecution and arbitrary arrest, a satisfying family life, the assertion of culturaland religious values, adequate leisure time and satisfying forms of its use, a sense ofpurpose in life and work, the opportunity to join and actively participate in theactivities of civil society and a sense of belonging to a community (Streeten1999).”Therefore, eradication of poverty and greater equity in income distribution alongwith human resource development is an important policy issue and must remain inthe forefront in all developing countries including SouthAsia.Research FindingsRains et. al (2000) note that there are two distinct causal chains between economicgrowth and human development. One runs from economic growth to humandevelopment, as the resources from national income are allocated to activitiescontributing to human development; the other runs from human development toeconomic development, indicating how, in addition to being an end in itself, humandevelopment helps increase national income.The connection between national income to human development is likely to bestronger:a. the lower the proportion of the population below the poverty line; for a givenlevel of GNP per capita, this means the more equally income is distributed;b. the more income households allocate to human development at a givenincome level; this may be related both to the level of female education and tofemale control over income within the household;c. the higher the proportion of GNP devoted to priority social expenditure by thegovernment;d. the more effective the contribution of social capital, including communityorganizations and other NGOs ande. the more efficient the human development improvement function (HDIF).On the other hand, the link between human development to growth is likely to bestronger:a. the higher the investment rate;b. the more equal the distribution of income andc. the more appropriate the economic policy setting.In summary, the two chains, taken as a whole, showed a significantly positiveeffect of economic growth on human development and a significantly positive3