Essays on Human Capital, Long Run Growth and Comparative Development

This research argues that di erences in the distribution of human capital across countries and their impact on the advancement and the adoption of technology contributed to the di erential timing of the transition from the Malthusian stagnation to modern growth and the persistent di erences in income per capita across the globe. Polarization in the distribution of hu- man capital within an economy implied a trade-o between innovation and adoption of technologies that, in turn, in uenced the transition from stag- nation to growth. Despite the contribution of the upper tail of the human capital distribution to technological innovation, the absence of wide group of educated individuals among the working population delayed technology adoption and the transition from stagnation to growth. [edited by author]