Showing papers on "Human capital published in 1970"

The Distribution of Labor Incomes: A Survey with Special Reference to the Human Capital Approach

Abstract: Professor of Economies, Columbia University, and Senior Research Staff, National Bureau of Economic Research. This paper is based, in large part, upon ongoing research in human capital at the National Bureau. This research is financed by grants from the Carnegie Corporation and from the Economic Development Administration of the United States Department of Commerce. I am grateful to Gary Becker, Barry Chiswick, and Victor Fuchs for helpful comments, and to Masanori Hashimoto and Sara Paroush for most competent assistance.

Growth Theory: An Exposition

Abstract: Nobel Lecture, December 8, 1987: Growth Theory and After 1. Characteristics of Steady States 2. A Variable Capital/Output Ratio 3. A Model without Direct Substitution 4. A Model with Two Assets 5. Economic Policy in a Growth Model 6. Aspects of Economic Policy Intermezzo 7. The Standard Model Once More 8. Human Capital: The Lucas Model 9. Endogenous Technology: The Romer Model 10. New Consumer Goods: Grossman and Helpman 11. Schumpeterian Ideas: Aghion and Howitt 12. Lessons and Suggestions for Aggregative Growth Theory Bibliography

Determinants of Long-Term Growth: Some African Results

Abstract: Using the framework of endogenous growth models which seeks to explain sustained long term growth across countries and over time as a basis, this paper empirically analyses the determinants of long term growth in selected African countries during 1970–91. The most important explanatory variables considered include initial per capita income, investment, population growth, macroeconomic environment (inflation and exchange rates), external factors (export growth, external debt, terms of trade), political environment and human capital. On average, investment, external debt, population growth, human capital and proxies for macroeconomic environment appear to have more relative importance in influencing long term growth.

An analytical framework for regional development policy

Abstract: Social accounts are essentially quantitative frameworks for analyzing economic cycles and trends. A number of years ago such measures as national income accounts, inter-industry tables, and money flow accounts, although differing in format, were constructed for subnational regions in a manner that was analogous to accounts at the national level. This is the first book to deal with regional social accounting in an advanced manner. It proposes to use these systems partly as a device for measuring change, partly as a system for forecasting, but mainly as a framework for policy analysis. The authors tackle major problems that confront regional economists, regional scientists, and public officials, such as how to study impacts of regional development programs, and how to evaluate alternative regional development policies within both a national and multiregional structure.At the national level social accounts are used primarily for analyzing short-term cyclical movements; they do not include detailed information on stocks of human and physical capital. At the regional level, however, it is necessary to analyze policies for building various facilities and improving human resources, and to develop regional accounts systems that can be made consistent and comparable and that can be expanded to include physical and human capital. The authors of this study have attempted to identify and discuss the various issues involved in building such systems, to describe the theoretical difficulties and data collection problems that would arise, and how these might be resolved. The book does not blueprint an actual project; instead it is a handbook of regional accounting principles that could well be used to prepare an operating manual for the building of regional accounts by a wide variety of agencies and individuals.Concern for the regional dimensions of economic development can be generated effectively by overt and purposeful national policies; however, in the absence of a unified national approach, many groups will be building systems for particular regions. This book spans the needs of a wide array of these groups: the economic analysis and data collection parts of federal agencies engaged in regional development as well as regional, state, and local planning agencies; scholars whose work on the regional development process would be served very importantly by construction of the kind of system the book describes; and finally, as the work is sufficiently general, those foreign groups that are involved in building analytical systems and providing information for regional development policy.This is the ninth volume in the M.I.T. Regional Science Studies Series.

An economic analysis of major determinants of expenditures on public education

Abstract: T HIS paper considers the major influences on the level of current expenditures on public primary and secondary education. Its purpose is to clarify their interrelation, directing attention toward those determinants that can be shown to be of major importance overall in both cross section and time series data. There are a number of empirical studies of determinants of public primary and secondary education in the literature. Among the most recent and thorough are those by Hirsch [14], Shapiro [29], Miner [23], Burkhead [7], James [18, 19] and Pryor [26] . There is, however, the lack of a structural theory in all of these studies, and this lack of a sufficiently explicit theoretical framework somewhat limits the capacity to interpret the economic meaning of the statistical results.1 A neat separation of economic and noneconomic factors is hardly possible. But it is possible to distinguish the economic framework of the problem which interrelates influences on the demand for public education, costs of producing it, and tax behavior (via tax handles or other revenue sources). It is also possible to bring to bear on the analysis of resources for education some of the developments in the broader context of public expenditure theory (e.g., Musgrave [25] and others) and the recent developments in consumption theory (e.g., Ando-Modigliani [1], Houthakker [16], and others).2 Although this is not a normative study of efficient allocation (for which see Bowles [4] for example), it can make use of certain advantages offered by education as a case study in public expenditure theory. For most school administrative units are single purpose units making quasi-independent expenditure decisions. Importance also derives from the fact that education is an extremely large "industry," engaged in the furthering'of growth through human capital formation, and in the reduction of inequality. Part I considers the demand, production cost, and tax behavior structural equations. Attention is then turned to their joint solution and the reduced form public expenditure functions that are the result. The reduced forms maintain the degree of comparability to other studies that we desire for the large ones have used single equatioii methods (e.g., Miner [23], James [18, 19]) with data for a sample of individual districts. Others have focused on the relation of the aggregate expenditure-income ratio to per capita income (e.g., Musgrave [25], Pryor [26 pp. 182-226].) Part II considers empirical estimates of these reduced forms for cross-section data among states for 1955-1956, the mid-point of the postwar period, and for time series data for 1946-1968.

Estimating Shadow Rates of Return to Investment in Education.

Abstract: Internal rates of return to investment in education are estimated on the basis of the marginal social product of labor instead of the observed earnings. A comparison of the shadow to the actual rates of return to investment in labor skills suggested that privately advantageous decisions with respect to investment in human capital may be very inefficient when assessed in social terms. Discrete substitution possibilities between labor skills introduced in a fixed coefficients production function gave considerably more elastic marginal productivity curves for labor, as compared to the no-substitution version of the model. The proposed methodology is illustrated by an empirical application referring to Greece for the period 1954 to 1965, and the implications of the findings are analyzed in terms of educational planning.

Poverty, Education, and Unbalanced Economic Growth

Abstract: The economic setting, 71. — The human capital model, 73. — Factors inhibiting human capital development, 79. — Secular trends in the parameters, 80. — Conclusions, 83.

From Cultural to Economic Capital: Community Employment Creation in Otara

Abstract: This paper stresses the need for community responses to the ethnic unemployment problem in New Zealand. It aims to show the potential for direct employment creation on the basis of a community entrepreneurship model as well as a widened definition of human capital, using case study of the labour market disadvantaged community of Otara, in South Auckland. Projects harnessing cultural and ethnic riches to create Otara as an attractive visitor destination undertaken by Enterprise Otara (EO) are examined. A participatory research methodology, chiefly formative evaluation is used. ·This paper seeks to break down a prevalent view that grassroots responses to unemployment are necessarily small-scale ventures and to get away from the 'small is beautiful' mind-set when Local Employment Initiatives (ILEs) are involved. Additionally, the collaborative role of 'outsiders ' in the 'bottom-up' approach to employment creation is shown to be important in 'getting things moving ' at the community level. Constraints faced by community organisations are highlighted. The importance of ILEs and the partnership concept in the mitigation of high unemployment in disadvantaged communities, is affirmed.

Economics and black people

Abstract: Economics and black people are both poorly understood by the public at large. Economics is often confused with (1) business m~agement , (2) general money making, or (3) moralistic evaluations of economic problems. Economics is essentially a cause-and-effect analysis of the production and distribution of goods and resources. Few, ff any, economic principles apply exclusively to black people, and so in that sense there is no "black economics," any more than there is "black mathematics." Yet many of the problems of black p e o p l e and more importantly, the solutions to those p r o b l e m s involve an understanding of economics concepts and analysis. In this sense, economics is not only "relevant" to black people but is vitally important. This can be illustrated by the usefulness of the economic concept of "human capital" and by the economic analysis of various approaches to black economic development.

Business Innovation, Ethics, and Prosperity: The Primacy of Microeconomics

Abstract: This paper examines the role of "business innovation" and "business ethics" --two seemingly unrelated principles--in underpinning the disparities in economic prosperity across 107 countries over the period from 2003 to 2006. Unlike Porter, Ketels, and Delgado's (2007) statistical approach, which relies on partial correlations, this paper uses a multiple regression analysis within a general macro/microeconomic framework to examine business innovation strategies and ethics, while controlling for human capital, geography, and socio-cultural demographics. Additionally, this paper borrows from Wu (2005) to assess the interaction between business innovation strategies and business ethics. Econometric results indicate that business innovation and business ethics are both positively correlated with and needed to sustain economic prosperity. Additional results show that microeconomic variables have the primacy over macroeconomic ones. Relevant policy implications are discussed. Introduction The problem of creation of wealth has always been the in-focus of economic research. While the bulk of the literature emphasized the role of macroeconomic factors, the microeconomic foundations of economic prosperity escaped theoretical and empirical scrutiny. Building on Porter's (1990, 2007) approach to economic prosperity, the purpose of this paper is to empirically test the following: (1) The significant relationship of each of "business innovation" and "business ethics" (or corruption)--two seemingly unrelated principles--in underpinning the disparities in economic prosperity across a sample of 107 countries over the average period from 2003 to 2006; (2) the interaction between business innovation strategies and business ethics; and (3) the size and significant roles of macro- and microeconomic foundations in affecting economic prosperity. The microeconomic approach to economic prosperity gained much importance with the growing pace of globalization. Globalization increases the uncertainties of macroeconomic policies and makes countries more vulnerable to the fluctuation of variables, such as exchange rates and commodity prices among others. In fact, Argentina failed to experience a sustainable path of growth because the improvement of the microeconomic environment was not in-line with the macroeconomic reforms that the government has undertaken (Ketels, 2006). While the potential to create a competitive advantage at the corporate level lies in the development of innovative products and processes, including conducting innovation-driven business strategies, this paper suggests that corporate ethics, specifically corporate corruption should not be underestimated. Borrowing from Wu (2005), the tough enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act may have forced U.S. companies to focus their attention on developing their long-term competitive advantage through implementing business innovation strategies leading them to be recognized as global leaders in their fields. Unlike Porter's et al. (2007) statistical approach which relies on partial correlations, this paper employs a general micro/macroeconomic framework and uses a multiple regression to examine the effects of business innovation and business ethics (corruption) on economic prosperity as measured by the level of per capita gross domestic product (GDP). It controls for salient features of economic prosperity, including human capital (education), geography (latitude), and socio-cultural demographics (religious fractionalization). Using the standardized estimation of the independent variables, this paper assesses the magnitudes between microeconomic and macroeconomic environments and their impact on economic prosperity. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. The second section reviews succinctly the related literature, while suggesting a synthetic theoretical diagram (Figure 1). The third section offers the specification of the model and the fourth section analyzes the econometric results. …

Education and Training in the Labour Force

Abstract: In their 1997 green paper on tertiary education the Ministry of Education said, "to ensure our prosperity New Zealand needs to be a 'learning society' recognising the importance for all of our people to continue to develop new skills and knowledge throughout a person’s lifetime." Given the importance of an educated and adaptable workforce, there is surprisingly little information available on education and training undertaken in New Zealand. While some information is collected on those enrolled in study towards formal education qualifications, there is little available information on human capital development beyond this. One of the few sources of information is the Education and Training Survey (ETS), conducted in September 1996. This paper uses information collected in the ETS to look at the characteristics of those participating in education and training as well as the barriers to and reasons for participation in education and training. lt then goes on to compare the labour market outcomes of those people who participated in education and training with those who did not.

An "Austrian" Approach to the Theory of Investment in Human Beings

Abstract: In a recent article,' one of the authors reviewed the literature on human capital from the writings of Sir William Petty to those of early twentieth-century economists. It was documented that many of the major figures in the history of economic thought, such as Petty, Smith, Say, Senior, List, von Thiinen, Rocher, Bagehot, Ernst Engel, Sidgwick, Walras, Marshall and Fisher, considered human beings or their skills as capital. Most of these economists neither attempted an evaluation of human capital nor employed the concept for any specific purpose. They did, however, include humans or their skills in their definition of capital and recognized the importance of investment in human beings as a way of increasing labor productivity. Conspicuously absent from this list of economists are the Austrians who, although they did not explicitly include humans or their skills within their definition of capital,2 developed a capital theory that is particularly amenable to investigating problems now being assessed within the humancapital theoretical framework. In fact Gary

Employment expectations of rural school-leavers

Abstract: Mourne country is one of the best known and distinctive rural areas not only in Co Down but in the province as a whole Kilkeel is its urban centre and the market town Newcastle is the gateway to the North and to the South the area is bound by Carlmgford Lough and Warrenpoint which is scheduled to become the major port for the new city of Craigavon The area is a clearly defined natural unit bounded by the sea and cut off from the interior by mountains which are virtually uninhabited There is little agricultural land above the 600 ft contour Between this and the sea, a distance of six to seven miles, lies a patchwork quilt of tidily kept farms and homesteads In the past the area relied heavily on agriculture, fishing and granite work Frequently the Mourne man combined all three 1 The agricultural area consists of 30,000 acres and there are a further, 10,000 acres in rough grazmgs 2 For seven months of the year approximately 30,000 sheep graze 32,000 acres of adjoining mountain This represents a very intensive stocking density of approximately one sheep to the acre (Compare this with Western Donegal where the density is one sheep to six acres ) Apart from sheep, livestock farming is mainly beef cows and cattle rearing Except on the better grasslands along the coast, dairying is not significant The pig population has trebled since 1948 and has replaced poultry as the main subsidiary enterprise One acre in four is devoted to tillage and the potato crop, which is the specialist crop of the area, occupies more than half of the cultivated acreage The structure of farming is small In 1966 three quarters of the holdings were less than thirty acres As a result of consolidation and the taking of conacre the acreage usually farmed is about forty acres The total agricultural labour force has decreased by almost sixty per cent since 1948 The number of working owners has been almost halved Fishing, once a part-time industry and m many cases complementary to farming, is now fully commercial and thriving The industry is centred

Company Employment Policies and Practices in the use of Immigrant Linguistic and Cultural Studies

Abstract: In recent years New Zealand’s immigration policy has placed an emphasis on increasing human capital through encouraging well qualified immigrants to settle in New Zealand. Apart from the qualifications and work skills that immigrants bring from their countries of origin, they also possess, in many cases, proficiency in other languages as well as an understanding of other cultures. To what extent are these linguistic and cultural resources utilised in New Zealand employment? This paper examines the policies and practices of companies engaged in the international business sector to determine the factors that influence effective use of this pool of expertise. The paper draws upon the findings of a survey of companies involved primarily in exporting and tourism, as well as follow-up interviews with selected companies. On the basis of this study, best practice features in the use of immigrant linguistic and cultural resources are identified.

Economic development with special attention to the role played by human capital : the cases of Israel and Puerto Rico

Abstract: In this study it is argued that improvement of human capital not only plays a major role in economic development, but that it is its cause and effect, its final aim and measure of achievement.1 Economic development is here defined as economic growth plus change, structural and other,2 weighted heavier on the human capital side. The cases of Israel and Puerto Rico suggest that economic development is possible under different conditions.3 Although interspatial similarities and differences become obvious in the process of analysis, the study is more of the in tertemporal type mapping out the development path and analyzing its turning points.

Racial Discrimination, Productivity, and Negro-White Male Income

Abstract: In recent years the popular news media has daily focused attention on the social policy issue of "equality" for Negroes Perhaps the most critical economic aspect of this issue has been the obvious disparity be? tween the level of incomes received by Negroes relative to whites Within the discipline of economics, the first rigorous theoretical treatment of this problem was rendered by Gary Becker in his Economics of Discrim? ination [3] Becker has demonstrated theoretically that the exercise of a taste for discrimination by whites against Negroes (by employee, em? ployer, consumer, or government groups) would manifest itself in lower income levels for Negroes relative to whites, other things being equal1 Of course other considerations in addition to the possibility of discrim? ination have been advanced to explain the disparity in Negro-white relative incomes Among these are the more traditional economic con? siderations relating to productivity and labor market capacity, factors which have been explored in the literature on human capital From a policy standpoint, it is very important to identify those in? fluences which have a bearing on the relative income question and to ascertain their importance For policy purposes, the assessment of the determinants of relative income must proceed on an empirical, as well as theoretical, plane; it is, moreover, crucial to evaluate these determi? nants in a simultaneous manner to capture interaction effects among the variables Surprisingly, the determinants of relative income have not been subject to much empirical testing Perhaps the most extensive empirical investigation of this matter was undertaken by Zeman [10], who examined the variables of age, education, and region, using 1939 data on urban white and nonwhite males Zeman's somewhat dated anal? ysis is based on groupings of age, education, and regional data; each of these factors is demonstrated to influence relative income It should be noted, however, that Zeman made no attempt to account for direct or indirect discrimination effects arising through relative supply factors Becker [3, p 104-107] also has set forth some empirical evidence on the determinants of Negro-white relative income, using data for standard metropolitan areas in the South in 1950 While finding evidence linking relative education and relative income, Becker uncovered little support for 164

Human Capital Formation and Employability in An Information Economy: A Study of New Zealand's ICT Sector

Abstract: Human capital formation is vital in furthering the employability of a nation's workforce. Employability in a networked and information society has undergone a paradigm shift. The key participants in the labour market- employers, employees, trade unions and the government have to proactively address various issues emerging at the global level by assessing its implications for them at macro and micro levels and by furthering human capital formation so as to maintain the employability of their workforce. This paper presents the trends emerging at global levels, the extent to which they are reflected in OECD countries and in New Zealand, with a specific focus on its ICT (Information and Communications Technology) sector. It further discusses the dilemma faced by different players in contributing in furthering human capital formation and employability. Secondary data pertaining to emerging trends on human capital and employability in the ICT sector is analysed from various government agencies and international organisations. Although there is some strength in the present system in terms of industry training provided in New Zealand, there are few areas of investment for human capital and some firm level practices which affect employability and human capital formation in future.