The human capital augmented Solow model revisited

Abstract

A maintained hypothesis of the present paper is that a necessary condition for model verification is the robust empirical confirmation of the model's implied restrictions. In particular, the results of a statistical test of any such restrictions should be favourable and invariant across samples. A recent influential paper presented evidence in support of the principal restriction implied by the human capital augmented Solow model of economic growth. The present paper makes use of samples different from those examined in the prior paper. The conclusion reached here, unlike that reached in the prior paper, is that the augmented Solow model is not robust.