Reflections on Investment in Man

Abstract

T HE analytical scaffolding of these studies rests on the proposition that people enhance their capabilities as producers and as consumers by investing in themselves. It implies that not all of the economic capabilities of a people are given at birth, or at age fourteen when some of them enter upon work, or at some later age when some complete their schooling; but that many of these capabilities are developed through activities that have the attributes of an investment. These investments in people turn out not to be trivial; on the contrary, they are of a magnitude to alter radically the usual measure of the amount of savings and capital formation. They also alter the structure of wages and salaries and the amount of earnings relative to income from property.These alterations are clues to longstanding puzzles about economic growth, structure of relative earnings, and the distribution of personal income. Inasmuch as these alterations are a consequence of investment in human capital,

Gasto Privado en Salud de los Hogares de Cartagena de Indias, 2004

“…En recientes estudios, como el realizado por Torres y Knaul se analizó el E l gasto en salud se reconoce como una inversión en capital humano ya que permite que las personas alcancen una calidad de vida adecuada y contribuye al crecimiento económico de las naciones (1). Sin embargo, gasto de bolsillo en salud en México y los principales factores asociados que conducen a que dicho gasto sea catastrófico para las familias (mayor a 30 % del gasto total menos el gasto en alimentos) (2).…”

Education, productivite et gain. Retour sur les approches critiques de l’enchaînement causal de la théorie du capital humain

“…Tout d'abord l'éducation ne constitue pas uniquement un investissement. Elle peut égale-ment être considérée comme un bien de consommation [Schultz 1962]. Par ailleurs, le modèle ne prend pas en compte d'autres facteurs pouvant infl uencer la demande d'éducation comme le taux de chômage, la région, le sexe [Psacharopoulos et Woodhall 1988], les facteurs sociaux [Anderson 1983] ou le risque d'échec [Eicher et Mingat 1982].…”

“…Suite aux travaux de Schultz [1961Schultz [ , 1962 et Denison [1962], qui montrent que la croissance économique des Etats Unis est due pour une part non né-gligeable à l'accroissement de l'éducation de la force de travail, de nombreux auteurs [Kruger 1968;Selowsky 1969;Griliches 1970;Psacharopoulos 1973Psacharopoulos , 1984Daly 1982;Jorgensen 1984;Plant et Welch 1984;Jorgensen et Fraumeni 1992] etc. vont appliquer leur méthode à divers pays.…”

Regional Age Structure and Economic Growth: An Econometric Study for German Regions

“…The consideration of the age of individuals can be motivated by the theory of human capital, which was introduced by Becker (1964) and Schultz (1962). Individual human capital depends not only on formal quali…cation and schooling but also on experience and the ability to adopt new knowledge or technologies or by obsolescence and depreciation of knowledge.…”