Effects of urbanization on economic growth and human capital formation in Africa

Mohamed El Hedi Arouri (1) , Adel Ben Youssef (2) , Cuong Nguyen-Viet (3) , Agnès Soucat (3)

1 LEO - Laboratoire d'économie d'Orleans [2008-2011]
2 GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion
3 Chercheur indépendant

The objective of this paper is to investigate the impacts of urbanization on human capital andeconomic growth in Africa. It seeks to contribute to the urbanization-growth debate byinvestigating how urbanization is linked to human capital accumulation and economic growth.More precisely, compared to previous studies on the urbanization-growth nexus, we (i) focusexclusively on African countries; (ii) consider both direct and indirect channels through whichurbanization may influence economic activity and (iii) examine a long period including theevolutions observed in the recent years.

Mots clés: economic growth; human capital; urbanization

Domaines: Economies et finances

Mohamed El Hedi Arouri, Adel Ben Youssef, Cuong Nguyen-Viet, Agnès Soucat. Effects of urbanization on economic growth and human capital formation in Africa. 2014. ⟨halshs-01068271⟩