Current articles in NHRD frequently referred to some economic concepts, such as
poverty, labor market, unemployment, and national economic performance, growth etc.
(e.g. Lynham and Cunningham, 2006; Cho and McLean, 2004) without referring to
economic development literature. It is, thus, essential to identify what do we already
know and do outside the new NHRD paradigm in the foundational field and the
international development communities. It is also important to understand why
economists first used HRD concept, and why HRD scholar should not be surprised with
such a “rediscovery.” Therefore, the purpose of this study is to: