Abstract: Under the dual influences of an aging population and low fertility, China will face a long-term declining trend in the labor force . Therefore, the outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan of China emphasizes that the population quality dividend should be expanded to improve the level of human capital .One could “plant sycamore trees and attract phoenixes”. However, it is more important to retain “phoenixes” and produce economic benefits. The introduction of talent is only a means but not a terminus. Whether talent can be retained ultimately depends on whether there is an environment suitable for their development and whether a good ecosystem appropriate for the long-term development of talent can be established to effectively form "talent stickiness". Diverse institutional advantages, market size and talent policies affect the flow, competition and development of human capital, ultimately determining the economic benefits of talent. Hence, what type of institution can enable talent to yield a high human capital economic effect? Optimizing institutional arrangements to improve human capital's economic growth effect is essential for the Chinese local government to attract talented people. Through literature review and analysis, this paper puts forward the institutional framework for influencing the economic growth of human capital, namely the "Accumulation-Allocation-Innovation" (AAI) institutional framework. Utilizing the dynamic pooled fsQCA method and inter-provincial data from 2001 to 2017, the study analyzes the institutional configuration pattern of the human capital's economic growth effect. The study found that (1) either accumulation institutions, allocation institutions, or innovation institutions are not necessary for the high economic growth effect of human capital, which a single condition cannot guarantee. (2) Four institutional configuration patterns promote the economic growth effect of human capital: the institutional configuration of allocation-innovation, the institutional configuration of accumulation-innovation, the institutional configuration of innovation, and the balanced institutional configuration. (3) The improvement of innovation institutions boosts the economic growth effect of human capital despite the absence of allocation and accumulation institutions. (4) Multiple paths are found in the multi-period comparative analysis: the "dominant path" (The institutional path of innovation), the "buffering dominant path" (the institutional path of allocation), and the "turning path" (the institutional path of accumulation and innovation). Some suggestions are put forward to promote the human capital economic growth effect in China based on the research results. First, an interactive federation among the accumulation institution, allocation institution and innovation institution should be strengthened. Second, even when accumulation institutions and allocation institutions are restricted, improving innovation institutions is also a way to increase the human capital economic contribution rate. Third, measures should be adjusted to local conditions and according to circumstances, and the driving path should be reasonably chosen. Finally, we attach importance to the effect of allocation institutions on human capital economic growth.Different from the static configuration perspective, this paper starts from the complex dynamic perspective, which not only expands the research field of high economic growth effect of human capital, but also provides new thinking for how to improve the institutional environment of high economic effect of human capital.