The role of education in development and European cooperation with Latin America

In this paper we present a quantitative approach, based on econometric studies of production functions, for the evaluation of human capital on economic growth. After the research from Denison(1980), Lucas (1988), Mankiw and Romer(1992), Barro and Lee(1996),Guisan(1997) and Neira and Guisan(1997), we develop a method for measuring the impact of education of men and women on development., taking into account the increases in production due to human capital and the moderation of birth rates as a consequence of both a higher level of education of the population and a higher level of female employment in secondary and tertiary sectors of activity. So education has a very positive impact on the growth of income per inhabitant, increasing the rate of income growth and diminishing the rate of population growth. We analyse the situation and perspectives for development in Latin America and stand out the importance of increasing the resources devoted to education in order to achieve the goals that need to be met for a good level and quality of life for the population on these countries. We follow the studies published by Arranz, Freire and Guisan(1996) and Neira, Exposito and Aguayo(1998). Our analysis is also based on the experience of economic growth in OECD countries during the second half of twentieth century, which demonstrates the key role of education on development. This importance arises not only from a purely economicist point of view but also from the perspective of social and political wellbeing. Only with more emphasis on education, together with investment and international cooperation, the less developed countries of Latin America can reach higher standards of wellbeing, peace, freedom and a substainable development. International help in education and investment is essential for Latinamerica take off in this circumstances. EU should, in our opinion, have an important presence in this process, together with other countries and international institutions. Spain has an important role to play, because the language community and their historic links with many of these countries, but unfortunately this role has not been very much developed up till now.