Theodore W. Schultz

Bio: Theodore W. Schultz is an academic researcher from University of Chicago. The author has contributed to research in topics: Human capital & Agriculture. The author has an hindex of 41, co-authored 145 publications receiving 12466 citations. Previous affiliations of Theodore W. Schultz include Iowa State University & University of Minnesota.

Transforming traditional agriculture

Abstract: .The debate on Theodore W Schultz's theories about transformation of traditional agriculture, which appeared in the pages of EPW more than eleven years ago, did not extend to tracing the Schultzian errors to their source. In fact, Schultz's characterisation of traditional agriculture was itself erroneous because there was an implicit assumption behind all that Schultz said of a certain mode of production cultivation with hired labour. In thus implicitly attributing a spurious universality to capitalist farming, Schultz was being blind to agricultural reality in underdeveloped countries, besides failing to take into account the persistence of peasant farming and family farming in the most advanced capitalist countries like the United States.

Value of the ability to deal with disequilibria.

Abstract: Explores the relation of a person's education and experience to the ability to reallocate resources, especially under economic disequilibrium. Examples of economic disequilibria include unemployment rate changes, geographical and occupational job shifts, and changes in incentives for geographical or occupational transfer. While this allocative ability is clearly important for entrepreneurs, it is just as important for others, and the enhancement of this ability is one of the greatest rewards of education. Study of the differing economic histories of the agricultural regions of California, Brazil and Canada show that a farmer's level of education is positively related to successful disequilibria adaptations. Likewise, education plays some role in housewives' productivity, mate choice, control of birth rates, and adaptability to the disequilibria of changing household operations. Economic models need to be developed to assess equilibrium; in these, entrepreneurial ability and function would be treated as scarce resources, likely enhanced by education and perhaps by cognitive abilities. Future cognitive studies should examine to what extent the ability to deal with disequilibrium is a learned trait, and whether this trait can be augmented. (CJC)

The Economic Value of Education

Abstract: (1964). “The Economic Value of Education,”. The Journal of Higher Education: Vol. 35, No. 6, pp. 356-356.

Capital Formation by Education

Abstract: IPROPOSE to treat education as an investment in man and to treat its consequences as a form of capital. Since education becomes a part of the person receiving it, I shall refer to it as human capital. Since it becomes an integral part of a person, it cannot be bought or sold or treated as property under our institutions. Nevertheless, it is a form of capital if it renders a productive service of value to the economy. The principal hypothesis underlying this treatment of education is that some important increases in national income are a consequence of additions to the stock of this form of capital. Although it will be far from easy to put this hypothesis to the test, there are many indications that some, and perhaps a substantial part, of the unexplained increases in national income in the United States are attributable to the formation of this kind of

The mechanics of economic development

Abstract: This paper considers the prospects for constructing a neoclassical theory of growth and international trade that is consistent with some of the main features of economic development. Three models are considered and compared to evidence: a model emphasizing physical capital accumulation and technological change, a model emphasizing human capital accumulation through schooling, and a model emphasizing specialized human capital accumulation through learning-by-doing.

The Market for “Lemons”: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism

Abstract: This paper relates quality and uncertainty. The existence of goods of many grades poses interesting and important problems for the theory of markets. On the one hand, the interaction of quality differences and uncertainty may explain important institutions of the labor market. On the other hand, this paper presents a struggling attempt to give structure to the statement: “Business in under-developed countries is difficult”; in particular, a structure is given for determining the economic costs of dishonesty. Additional applications of the theory include comments on the structure of money markets, on the notion of “insurability,” on the liquidity of durables, and on brand-name goods.

Economics of Information

Abstract: The author systematically examines one of the important issues of information — establishing the market price. He introduces the concept of «search» — where a buyer wanting to get a better price, is forced to question sellers. The article deals with various aspects of finding the necessary information.