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Human Capital Models

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Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research

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Synonyms

Demand for education; Earnings model; Returns to education and postschool investments

Definition

The conventional models of human capital explain an individual’s decision to invest in education and training during their working life, considering the earning benefits of education.

Description

In his seminal book, Human Capital, Becker (1964) develops a theory of investment in human capital and introduces the rate of return to education as the main determinant of the demand for education and training. He also makes a valuable distinction between general training, which is useful in more than one firm, and firm-specific training, which increases productivity only in the firm where it was acquired. Building on the dynamic human capital investment model of Ben-Porath (1967) and the work by Becker and Chiswick (1966) on the distribution of earnings, Mincer (1974) models the relationship between earnings, schooling, and work experience or on-the-job training. This model is known...

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References

  • Arrow, K. (1973). Higher education as a filter. Journal of Public Economics, 2(3), 193–216.

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  • Becker, G. S. (1964). Human capital: A theoretical and empirical analysis, with special references to education. New York: Columbia University Press.

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  • Becker, G. S., & Chiswick, B. R. (1966). Education and the distribution of earnings. The American Economic Review, 56, 358–369.

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  • Ben-Porath, Y. (1967). The production of human capital and the life cycle of earnings. Journal of Political Economy, 75, 352–365.

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  • Card, D. (2000). Estimating the returns to schooling: Progress on some persistent problems. NBER working paper 7769. Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.

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  • Griliches, Z. (1977). Estimating the returns to schooling: Some econometric problems. Econometrica, 45(1), 1–22.

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  • Mincer, J. (1974). Schooling, experience, and earnings. New York: Columbia University Press.

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  • Psacharopoulos, G. (1973). Returns to education: An international comparison. San Francisco: Elsevier/Jossey-Bass.

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  • Psacharopoulos, G., & Patrinos, H. (2004). Returns to investment in education: A further update. Education Economics, 12(2), 111–134.

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  • Spence, M. (1973). Job market signaling. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 87, 355–374.

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  • Thurow, L. C., & Lucas, R. (1972). The American distribution of income: A structural problem. Staff report. Washington, DC: Joint Economic Committee.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Recherche sur l’Economie de l’Education, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Dijon, France

    Gérard Lassibille

  2. Departamento de Economía Aplicada (Estadística y Econometría), Universidad de Málaga, Málaga, Spain

    Ma Lucía Navarro Gómez

Authors
  1. Gérard Lassibille
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  2. Ma Lucía Navarro Gómez
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gérard Lassibille .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze Statistiche, Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italy

    Filomena Maggino

Section Editor information

  1. Univeristy of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

    Antonino Galati

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Lassibille, G., Navarro Gómez, M.L. (2022). Human Capital Models. In: Maggino, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69909-7_1340-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69909-7_1340-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-69909-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-69909-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Social SciencesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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