Human capital theory

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The human capital theory is the study of education ( human capital ) as a resource under economic aspects. In particular, it is about measuring the macroeconomic effects of improved education. This relationship is usually measured by comparing the costs and benefits of spending on education.

Historical development

Adam Smith already established a direct connection between training and the productivity of workers : Education helped to increase the productive capacity of workers in the same way as the purchase of new machinery or other forms of physical capital increased the productive capacity of a factory or other enterprise . Considerations on human capital theory in the 19th century a. a. the German-speaking economists Hans Konrad Escher von der Linth , Christian von Schlözer , Friedrich List and Wilhelm Roscher .

A significant number of scientific papers have been published since the 1960s: Theodore Schultz ( Lit .: Schultz 1963) is regarded as one of the fathers of modern human capital theory. Other important works include a. by Gary Becker and Robert Solow . The neoclassical growth model, known as the Solow model , is a model that is still widely used to explain the fundamentals of economic growth . It postulates that the only long-term relevant factor influencing the growth of an economy is technical progress . This in turn expresses itself in higher labor productivity , which can be achieved primarily through better education.

The scientific work within the framework of human capital theory gained great importance; Schultz received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1979, Solow in 1987 and Becker in 1992. Other Nobel Prize winners were or are active in the field of human capital theory - for example Jan Tinbergen (Nobel Prize 1969), Milton Friedman (Nobel Prize 1976) or James Heckman (Nobel Prize 2000).

Important questions are whether education or the cognitive competence also evoked by education is relevant for economic growth. In a meta-analysis, Rindermann , Sailer and Thompson come to the conclusion that cognitive elites ( smart fraction ) are currently particularly important for prosperity within societies .

Extra-economic criticism of the human capital theory

In sociological research, too , the concept of capital is given a lot of attention. Pierre Bourdieu criticized the economic concept of human capital because it is too narrow to be able to describe social inequalities, since it only focuses on economic capital and can therefore be expressed directly in monetary values. He therefore developed a differentiated theory of convertible forms of capital that can be used to explain the reproduction of social distinctions. In addition to economic capital, he also has social and cultural capital.

literature

  • Gary S. Becker: The Economic Approach to Explaining Human Behavior . Mohr, Tübingen 1993, ISBN 3-16-146046-4 .
  • Eric Hanushek and Ludger Woessmann: The role of cognitive skills in economic development, Journal of Economic Literature , 46 (2008), pp. 607-668.
  • James Heckman: Policies to foster human capital. In: Research in Economics , 54 (2000), pp. 3-56.
  • Heiner Rindermann and Stephen Ceci: Educational policy and country outcomes in international cognitive competence studies. In: Perspectives on Psychological Science , 4 (2009), pp. 551-577.
  • Heiner Rindermann, Michael Sailer and James Thompson: The impact of smart fractions, cognitive ability of politicians and average competence of peoples on social development. In: Talent Development and Excellence , 1 (2009), pp.3-25 (PDF; 428 kB).
  • Theodore Schultz: The economic value of education. Studies in the economics of education , Elgar Books, Aldershot 1992, ISBN 1-85278-542-X .
  • Maureen Woodhall: Human Capital Concepts . In: George Psacharopoulos: Economics of Education: Research and Studies , Pergamon Press, Oxford 1995, ISBN 0-08-033379-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Maureen Woodhall: Human Capital Concepts . In: George Psacharopoulos: Economics of Education: Research and Studies , Pergamon Press, Oxford 1995, p. 21.
  2. ↑ Tim Petersen: Human capital - a historical clarification. accessed on December 12, 2019.
  3. ^ Heiner Rindermann, Michael Sailer, James Thompson: "The impact of smart fractions, cognitive ability of politicians and average competence of peoples on social development" . In: Talent Development & Excellence, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2009, pp. 3–25, here: p. 20, accessed on April 25, 2016
  4. ↑ Pierre Bourdieu: Economic Capital - Cultural Capital - Social Capital in: ders .: The hidden mechanisms of power , VSA-Verlag Hamburg, 2005, pp. 49-80