Empirical Evidence on the Determinants of and the Impact of Human Capital Investments and Related Policies in Developing Countries: Implications for India

Current conventional wisdom is that one major component in the more successful development strategies of a number of developing countries has been substantial human resource investments. The objective of this paper is to summarize the empirical evidence on the determinants of and the impact of human resource investments in developing countries. A simple analytical perspective first is presented. Then empirical experience from various developing countries on some dimensions of the determinants of the impact of human capital investments and related policies is summarized. Finally, the implications for Indian human capital investments- that are compared with those in other developing countries in a companion paper-are summarized.