Citation:

Joseph Olufemi OGUNJOBI, Oluwasegun ESEYIN, Olufemi A. OLADIPO. "Human Capital, Gender Inequality and Economic Growth in Nigeria: ARDL-Bound Test Approach" International Research Journal of Economics and Management Studies, Vol. 3, No. 7, pp. 285-292, 2024.

Abstract:

There appears not to be an imminent annihilation in the aged-long belief that men and women are not equal. Gender inequality does seem to gain wide popularity and practice in most African societies, particularly even in the current era of increased civilization, technological advancement and educational exposure in Nigeria. Despite its inherent part in African culture, gender inequality could hypothetically impede a country's success possibility in its strive for economic advancement. This study analyzes time series data covering 38 years from 1981-2018. We investigate how gender inequality and human capital impact the pace and direction of growth of the Nigerian economy. The study adopts the Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bound test for the cointegration approach. The result of the unit root test that was conducted using the ADF test reveals that all variables are integrated at the order I(1) except for GCF, which is integrated at order I(0). The error correction model was estimated once the long-term relationships between the variables were established. Male labour participation, female labour participation and government expenditure on education have a positive impact on per capita GDP. By implication, the more male and female labour participate in economic activities, per capita GDP would increase. This impact also goes along with that of government expenditure on education. The study further recommends an improvement in spending on the educational sector. The quality and skill of the labour force will lead to improved per capita GDP in the long run.

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Keywords:

Gender Inequality, Human Capital, Co-Integration, Economic Growth.