Human capital and innovation

Abstract

In recent decades, there has been an increase in the awareness of the importance of human capital and innovation both from the internal framework of the company and at the macroeconomic level, and is now considered as one of the essential elements for economic growth. In this way and in view of the recognition of this element, we approach, in this paper, the concept of human capital and the elements that integrate it, trying to determine the effects and benefits that can be generated through their promotion. In the same way, being aware of the positive effects that these elements can generate, we intend to show the possible link between human capital and innovation, as well as the possible positive effects that these can generate on the economic growth of a particular country. For this reason, we conducted, in this paper, a study through an econometric analysis on variables related to human capital and innovation, such as "public expenditure on education", "R&D investment" and "Spanish population with higher education", in order to show its relevance and effects that it can produce on national GDP.