Firms, workers, and human capital in Ghanaian manufacturing Understanding the nature of human capital in manufacturing in Africa will play an important role in facilitating the development of this sector. This dissertation focuses on three aspects of the human capital of the firm, and the relationship between the firm and its employees. The primary dataset used is a survey of manufacturing firms and their employees in Ghana. First, the productive and remunerative returns to education are calculated and compared. A new process for accurately measuring the returns to education is developed, one that controls for the major problem in this estimation, namely ability bias, using information about the contribution of the firm's workers to production. This methodology is applicable to other contexts where linked employer-employee data are available. Second, given the importance of the extended family network in Africa, and in particular the importance of hiring relatives to work in the firm, particularly in smaller firms, the impact of these related employees on firm profitability is measured. Specifically, the productive contribution of relatives is compared to their remuneration, in order to determine their overall impact on firm profitability. Third, the institution of apprenticeship, which is a period of a few years during which an apprentice learns a manufacturing trade, is explored. A model is presented where apprenticeship is an instance of training in firm-specific human capital, training which increases an individual's productivity in the current firm, but not in any other firm. Individuals invest in this firm-specific human capital if they have a sufficient probability of obtaining the capital to start their own firm, and replicate the technology and business practice of the apprenticeship firm. Predictions of the model are tested using manufacturing firm survey and national household survey data. [TABLE="class: citation"] [TR] [TH]Format:[/TH] [TD]Dissertation[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TH]Author(s):[/TH] [TD]Frazer, Garth Douglas[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TH]Published:[/TH] [TD]2003[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TH]Language:[/TH] [TD]English[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]