Showing papers on "Human capital published in 1978"
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TL;DR: In this article, the size distribution of firms at an economy-wide level by allocating productive factors over managers of differing abilities in order to maximize output is examined, and the results of this model show the effect of gross national product per capita on average firm size.
Abstract: Examines the size distribution of firms at an economy-wide level by allocating productive factors over managers of differing abilities in order to maximize output. A firm is defined as one manager and the capital and labor which that manager controls. To begin, a serious of theories that have been proposed in this area are considered including those of Herbert A. Simon, Jacob Viner, Charles, Bonini, and Yuji Ijiri. The model then developed in this analysis is based on the suggestion of Henry G. Manne. Production technology and managerial technology are considered separately in this model with production technology viewed in terms of labor and capital and managerial technology viewed in terms of variable skill or talent. Further development of the model invokes Gibrat's law. The results of this model show the effect of gross national product per capita on average firm size. Using human capital and hierarchical managements as variables would help to refine this model. (SRD)
1,404 citations
TL;DR: This paper found that the effect of workers' schooling on earnings and occupational SES increase as logarithmic functions of the size of the organization which employs them, and that zero-order correlations between schooling effects and log establishment size were between +.88 and +.95.
Abstract: Employers play a crucial role in the process of social stratification in the U.S.: the jobs they provide are the primary mechanism by which individuals are distributed among occupations and by which earnings are distributed among persons. But the vast majority of sociological work on socioeconomic achievement ignores employers completely, and nearly all related work by economists either ignores employers or else ignores characteristics of workers, substituting one omission for another. In the theoretical section of this paper, we review and combine sociological work on organizational structure, sociological studies of social stratification, and economic research on labor markets, industrial wage differentials and human capital. In this review, we hypothesize that the size of an employer organization works indirectly through other dimensions of organizational structure to alter the effect of workers' schooling on their wages and occupational attainment. In particular, we hypothesize that the effect of workers' schooling on earnings and the effect of workers' schooling on occupational SES increase as logarithmic functions of the size of the organization which employs them. Since the relationship between schooling and occupational attainment is a central part of social stratification research, and because the effect of schooling on earnings is afundamentalfeature of sociological and human capital research on earnings, this hypothesis links organizational structure to the very heart of current issues in social stratification and human capital studies. In the empirical section of the paper, we divide a national probability sample of workers into five groups, depending on the size of the establishment in which they work. Fitting models of earnings and occupational attainment in each of these groups and then relating schooling effects to the size of the establishment which defines the groups, we find that the effect of workers' schooling on earnings and SES increases approximately as a logarithmic function of the size of the establishment for Which they work. Indeed, we find zero-order correlations between schooling effects and log establishment size to be between +.88 and +.95, and statistically significant at the .025 level or better. Implications of our research are discussed.
212 citations
TL;DR: In this article, conditions for an operative interegenerational transfer motive are derived without special assumptions about the form of the utility function, and the rate at which individuals discount heirs' utility relative to the market interest rate.
Abstract: In a Samuelson overlapping-generations model, conditions for an operative interegenerational transfer motive are derived without special assumptions about the form of the utility function. Crucial in determining if transfers will be positive is the rate at which individuals discount heirs' utility relative to the market interest rate. It is also shown that transfers of human capital (such as investment in education) are not equivalent to ordinary bequests for the bonds-as-net-wealth controversy. If intergenerational transfers take the form of human capital, issuance of government bonds or social security can affect the equilibrium solution, even if the transfer motive is fully operative.
158 citations
TL;DR: This paper analyzed long-term trends in racial and gender wage disparities in the urban labor market of Sao Paulo, one of Latin America's most dynamic economies, using census data from 1960-2000.
Abstract: This study relies on Brazilian census data from 1960-2000 to analyze long-term trends in racial and gender wage disparities in the urban labor market of Sao Paulo, one of Latin America's most dynamic economies. Afro-Brazilians and women have made ...
137 citations
TL;DR: Correlation analysis of the relationship between measures of organizational context and indices of personnel policy indicated that economic factors and certain "institutional" factors were associat... as mentioned in this paper,...,
Abstract: Correlation analysis of the relationship between measures of organizational context and indices of personnel policy indicated that economic factors and certain “institutional” factors were associat...
131 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the relative earnings of a number of racial and ethnic minorities in the urban labor force from several countries were analyzed and a human capital model of earnings for each racial group was proposed.
Abstract: Analyzes the relative earnings of a number of racial and ethnic minorities in the urban labor force from several countries Purpose of estimating a human capital model of earnings for each racial group; Information on white/minority earning differentials in 1969; Changes in earnings in 1960 (Abstract copyright EBSCO)
82 citations
TL;DR: The authors proposed a new approach to analyze gender differences in wages, identifying several alternative explanatory mechanisms to account for the sorting of women and men into different types of jobs that offer different levels of reward.
Abstract: We propose a new approach to analyzing gender differences in wages. This approach identifies several alternative explanatory mechanisms to account for the sorting of women and men into different types of jobs that offer different levels of reward. ...
65 citations
TL;DR: In the U.S.presidential address, entitled ''Investment in Human Capital,\" he ushered in what his colleague Mary Jean Bowman later was to term the human investment revolution in economic thought as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: presidential address, entitled \"Investment in Human Capital,\" he ushered in what his colleague Mary Jean Bowman later was to term the \"human investment revolution in economic thought.\"l What Schultz and his contemporaries purported to have achieved was the incorporation of educational decisions by individuals and societies into the core of microeconomic theory. The economics department of the University of Chicago, which Schultz had chaired since the early 1940s, had long been regarded as the major proponent of neoclassical microeconomic theory.2 To an appreciable extent human capital theory was, in Schultz's own words, designed to extend microeconomic theory by solving some important paradoxes or \"puzzles\" which hitherto had only been explained on an ad hoc basis.
56 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that those less extensively and less continuously employed will have less investment in human capital, fewer opportunities to move to higher positions in the occupational structure, and, consequently, less gain in occupational rewards over the work life.
36 citations
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TL;DR: This paper found that women with home responsibilities might restrict job locations or schedules, or might take off extra time from work to care for sick children, and that women who choose to work may adjust their labor market activities to meet family responsibilities in ways which reduce productivity and hence wages.
Abstract: While most people would agree that familial responsibilities affect women's labor market behavior and wages, surprisingly little is known about how this process operates. Past investigations of women's wages have generally relied on data sets designed for other purposes, and, as a result, theoretically important determinants of women's wages may be measured imprecisely or omitted entirely from analyses. Familial responsibilities influence women's labor market behavior in at least two distinct ways. First, many women will withdraw entirely from labor market activities to bear and/or raise children. Not only does this reduce the total amounts of work experience and job tenure women acquire, but Jacob Mincer and Solomon Polachek further argue that women's human capital (work skills) will depreciate during such withdrawals and that such withdrawals will affect the timing of women's investments in on-the-job training. Second, women who choose to work may adjust their labor market activities to meet family responsibilities in ways which reduce productivity and hence wages. For instance, women with home responsibilities might restrict job locations or schedules, or might take off extra time from work to care for sick children. The 1976 Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) is well suited for exploring female wages. The PSID is a longitudinal study of 5,000 families which began in 1968. In 1976, male heads of household, female heads of household, and wives were asked to provide detailed information on earnings, education, work history, absenteeism, and self-imposed restrictions on job hours and job location. These data are used to describe women's patterns of work history and labor force attachment, to specify the determinants of women's wages, and to investigate the wage gaps between white men and each group of women.
29 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, a test of the Chiswick-Mincer specification of the human capital model in an analysis of earnings inequality across U.S. labor markets is provided.
Abstract: This paper provides a test of the Chiswick-Mincer specification of the human capital model in an analysis of earnings inequality across U.S. labor markets.1 The determination of income inequality across states and metropolitan areas has been examined in numerous studies.2 In these studies, Gini coefficients are used as a measure of inequality and are regressed on a host of economic and demographic variables. Typically, it is found that income inequality is inversely related both to the level of schooling and to the level of income. The former finding is often used to lend support to arguments for increased educational expenditures, while the latter finding is often cited to support the U hypothesis of Kuznets [12] that income becomes more equally distributed during later stages of economic development after having become less equal during early stages. These findings have been replicated using data across cities and states, and have been found to hold at various points in time. However, the theoretical basis for the relationship of inequality with the level of schooling and of income has not been clearly developed.
TL;DR: In this paper, the relative ability of the human capital model and of an alternative national distribution hypothesis to generate predicted distributions of earnings that are close to actual distributions within 48 SMSAs was examined.
Abstract: Microdata are used to examine the relative ability of the human capital model and of an alternative national distribution hypothesis to generate predicted distributions of earnings that are close to actual distributions within 48 SMSAs. Surprisingly, the national distribution hypothesis is found to be relatively more robust in predicting earnings distributions than the fixed-parameter human capital model. Earnings functions are then estimated separately within each SMSA, and it is found that the parameters of the human capital model vary significantly across labor markets. Further analysis examines the relationship between earnings distributions, the estimated parameters of the model, city size, and region.
TL;DR: Parsons as mentioned in this paper used a human-investment model to separate the total schooling effect of a given family characteristic into productivity, cost, and consumption components, and found that a mother's educational attainment has its main influence on her son's labor market achievement through its effects on the structure of the child's tastes for schooling and through the productivity effect of schooling on earnings.
Abstract: Donald 0. Parsons' recent article in this Journal raises several important questions.' Using a statistical model that has been employed by numerous sociologists for over ten years, Parsons illustrates the effects of various measures of family background on male youths' schooling and earnings.2 Parsons' original contribution to this literature is to employ a human-investment model in order to separate the total schooling effect of a given family characteristic into productivity, cost, and consumption components. For example, one of Parsons' most intriguing results is that a mother's educational attainment has its main influence on her son's labor market achievement through its effects on the structure of the child's tastes for schooling and through the productivity effect of schooling on earnings. Father's schooling, on the other hand, has its effect primarily through reducing the cost of schooling arising apparently from the greater subsidies more educated fathers bestow on their children.3 If this is true, exactly what is it that well-educated mothers do in the home that gives their children an earnings advantage in the labor market? Further, if this advantage reflects primarily environmental rather than genetic factors, can some type of social policy be used to replicate in families with low parental levels of education the process (whatever it is) of intergenerational wealth transmission enjoyed by high-status families? Parents can transmit income and wealth to their offspring in a variety of ways. At one extreme, transmittal occurs directly through bequests and gifts of financial assets. On the other hand, biological parents supply the genetic endowments that may affect skills useful in school and the labor market. Finally, parental time devoted to the rearing of children can also augment a child's skills and traits.4 It is these parental investments of time and goods in the children-particularly in the preschool years-which we wish to discuss here. If it could be shown, for example, that there is a consistent relationship between the well-known family background variables (e.g., parental education, occupational status, family size) used by Parsons, investments of parental time in preschool human capital, and the outcomes of the investment (the child's schooling and earnings), we could an-
15 Feb 1978
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss career change, economic climate, economic status, educational background, employment level, employment opportunities, failure factors, human capital, models, Occupational Mobility, Racial Differendes, Se* Differences, Success factors, Underemployment, Unemployment, Wages, etc.
Abstract: MF-$0.83 Plus Postage. B Not Available from EDW. . *Career Change; Economic Climate; Economic Status; Educatidnal Background; Employment Level; Employment Opportunities; *Employment' Patterns; Failure Factors; Human Capital; *Labor MarketiAarital Status; Models; Occupational Mobility; Racial Differendes; Se* Differences"; Success factors; Underemployed; * Unemployment; *Wages;,, *Youth Employment; Youth Problems -
TL;DR: In this paper, the autocorrelation of earnings and the variance of human capital is discussed, as well as the application of variance of present values in the context of finance.
Abstract: I. Introduction, 551. — II. The autocorrelation of earnings and the variance of human capital, 553. — III. Applications of the variance of present values, 559. — IV. Conclusions, 564.
TL;DR: This paper measured empirically the relative significance of financial capital inputs and human capital inputs as determinants of business profitability and provided an empirical basis for examining a number of hypotheses concerning historical patterns of Black business development and future developmental prospects of Black entrepreneurship.
01 Jan 1978
TL;DR: A map, drawing, or chart was part of the material being photographed and the photographer followed a definite method in "sectioning" the material as mentioned in this paper, where it is customary to begin photoing at the upper left hand comer of a large sheet and to continue photoing from left to right in equal sections with a small overlap.
Abstract: 3. Whan a map, drawing or chart, etc., was part of the material being photographed the photographer followed a definite method in "sectioning" the material. It is customary to begin photoing at the upper left hand comer of a large sheet and to continue photoing from left to right in equal sections with a small overlap. If necessary, sectioning is continued again — beginning below the first raw and continuing on until complete.
TL;DR: Arnoy as discussed by the authors pointed out that it was much more difficult than imagined to increase output and, even in those economies with rapidly increasing per capita income statistics, the poorest half of the population did not fare better.
Abstract: Martin C.arnoy (United States of America). Professor of Education, Stanford University. Specialist in the economic* of education, economic development and political economy. Among his many publications in related fields are Education as Cultural Imperialism, Economic Change and Educational Reform in Cuba, I955-I974~ and Education and Employment. It was not long ago that most leaders and planners in market economies believed that the solution to poverty lay in a rapid expansion of economic output. Two factors have made that solution obsolete: it was much more difficult than imagined to increase output; and, even in those economies with rapidly increasing per capita income statistics, the poorest half of the population did not fare signilicandy better. Leaders and policy-makers once viewed education as a key variable in expanding output and solving poverty. They thought that by raising the literacy rate and increasing the number of years of schooling in the labour force, economic and social development would follow rapidly. Market economies around the world expanded their educational systems, but economic development did not necessarily occur. Many countries now have a much more schooled labour force and higher income per capita than in the I95OS, but extreme poverty for the mass of their population and high unemployment continue unabated. A new feature has been added: the level of education of the unemployed has risen substantially. Under these conditions, leaders and planners gradually realized that economic growth alone would not solve the problem of poverty rapidly enough to meet internal political pressure. The distribution of output became, at the beginning of this decade, a crucial development variable. Again, education is to play a key role in redistributing income, just as it did in the growth process. But while the logic of education's relation to growth is tightly knit by the human capital model--though the economic pay-off to human capital investment
TL;DR: The authors examined the distribution effects of rural industrialization and found that the size distribution of income is important in shaping the social structure of society, in reducing transfer payments, in lowering development costs, and in facilitating recovery of investment in human capital.
Abstract: Income distribution has been a central topic in political economy and has received continuing emphasis by our profession. Few studies, however, have been undertaken to examine the distribution effects of rural industrialization. Notable exceptions are two recent studies which call attention to the effects of industry on the lowest income groups (Reinschmidt and Jones, Kuehn et al.). With poverty diminution remaining an important matter of public policy, the changing size distribution of family income among new industrial workers must be a central concern for rural development policy. The size distribution of income is important in shaping the social structure of society, in reducing transfer payments, in lowering development costs, and in facilitating recovery of investment in human capital.
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TL;DR: Goldberger as discussed by the authors argued that the estimates rely on improper or overly strong assumptions and that the whole effort is "misguided" and that our results have no implication for policy, thus, any attempt to understand the statistical issues or to improve the methodology would be barren; hence, he concentrate initially on the question of what one can and cannot learn from (unbiased) estimates of the contribution of genetic endowments to inequality of earnings.
Abstract: In his criticism of several articles I have written alone or with colleagues, Arthur Goldberger concentrates on two issues. The first is the statistical methodology that yields our estimate that about 40 percent of the variance in earnings of white males at age 50 is attributable to differences in genetic endowments. He suggests the estimates rely on improper or overly strong assumptions. The second issue is whether in his words, the whole effort is "misguided" and that our results have no implication for policy. Clearly if the whole effort is misguided, any attempt to understand the statistical issues or to improve the methodology would be barren; hence, I concentrate initially on the question of what one can and cannot learn from (unbiased) estimates of the contribution of genetic endowments to inequality of earnings. There are some extremely important questions that we can answer and other important questions that we cannot answer with this information. Unfortunately people have tried to answer the unanswerable ones in the heated debate in the IQ literature. I believe Goldberger fears that some economists will mistakenly try to use my results to answer the last set of questions. It is helpful to conduct the analysis within the context of a human capital model in which parents and their children are assumed to invest optimally. We begin by assuming that a person's earnings depend upon his marginal productivity, which is a function of his skills. Let us assume further as numerous writers including Gary Becker and James Meade have done that a person's skills depend upon his genetic endowments (G) and his environment or investments in human capital (N). For simplicity let us also assume that a person's observed phenotypic earnings (Y) are related linearly to his genotype and environment as shown in equation (1).
TL;DR: This paper examined whether schooling, experience, and weeks worked have different effects on individual earnings in nine separate occupational categories, and examined the relationship between wage rates, weeks worked, and occupation.
Abstract: In recent years the human capital earnings model has been widely used as a framework for examining the determination of earnings. A specification of the human capital earnings function developed by Chiswick and Mincer has been employed to examine earnings determination across individuals [Mincer, 1974b], states [Chiswick, 1974], metropolitan areas [Hirsch, 1978], occupations [Rahm, 1971], and over time [Chiswick-Mincer, 1972]. However, empirical studies utilizing the human capital framework have assumed that the effects of workexperience (postschool investment) on earnings are identical for individuals, regardless of occupation. This assumption runs counter to the current emphasis of many labor economists on the importance to lifetime earnings of gaining early access to certain occupational job ladders and of receiving firm specific on-the-job training [Doeringer and Piore, 1971 ; Thurow, 1975]. Likewise, human capital economists stress the importance of postschool training investments and at least recognize the fact that these investments vary across occupations. Indeed, Mincer has stated that [Mincer, 1974a, p. 33] : "an analysis in which these effects [of schooling and of experience] are allowed to differ [across occupations] would be desirable for a number of purposes, not the least of which is an insight into differential post-school job skill investments." This paper examines whether schooling, experience, and weeks worked have different effects on individual earnings in nine separate occupational categories. The Chiswick-Mincer spec*University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The research is drawn in part from my doctoral dissertation on which William R. Johnson and Roger Sherman provided helpful comments. Support by a doctoral dissertation grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, is gratefully acknowledged. ification of the human capital earnings function is modified in order to focus on differences across occupations in their earnings-experience profiles. This makes possible several inferences regarding the intensity, length, and rate of return to postschool human investments across occupational job ladders. In addition, we examine the manner in which occupation interacts with schooling in the earnings generation process and discuss analytical problems which arise in modeling this process. Finally, the relationship between wage rates, weeks worked, and occupation is examined. The Theoretical Framework
TL;DR: It is my belief that economic analysis is essential in understanding much of the behavior traditionally studied by sociologists, anthropologists and other social scientists as mentioned in this paper, and it is a true example of economic imperialism.
Abstract: It is my belief that economic analysis is essential in understanding much of the behavior traditionally studied by sociologists, anthropologists and other social scientists. This is a true example of economic imperialism! [Gary Becker, Economic Theory, p. 2] Human capital is strictly an economic concept. Although it pertaints to particular attributes of man, it is not intended to serve those who are engaged in analyzing psychological, social, or cultural behavior. [Theodore Schultz, Human Resources, p. 5]
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TL;DR: In this article, a case study of the impact of international migration movements on the labour market in Egypt and Sudan is presented. But the authors focus on the economic conditions, human capital, population, employment and labour demand.
Abstract: ILO pub-WEP pub. Working paper on a case study of the impact of international migration movements on the labour market in Egypt and Sudan - includes general information on economic conditions, human capital, population, employment and labour demand, examines the effects of emigration and immigration on economic development in relation to each country, and discusses the present number of egyptian migrants in Arab country, and constitutes part of a WEP research project. Bibliography pp. 84 to 87 and statistical tables.
TL;DR: Human resource accounting (HRA) is a term of relatively recent origin: research on HRA only began during the 1960s as mentioned in this paper, and the objective was to improve corporate financial reporting by accounting for "human assets" and, in turn, to increase the representational validity of income and asset numbers.
Abstract: ‘Human resource accounting’ (HRA) is a term of relatively recent origin: research on HRA only began during the 1960s. Initially, the objective was to improve corporate financial reporting by accounting for ‘human assets’ and, in turn, to increase the representational validity of income and asset numbers. A related purpose was to prevent prevailing accounting conventions from motivating suboptimal treatment of people — specifically, to reduce the likelihood that liquidation of human resources would not be revealed in financial reports because of the failure to account for investments in people as assets.
TL;DR: The competitive theory of wage determination is the focal point of debate in labor economics as discussed by the authors, and both sides in the debate make extensive use of the cross-sectional wage regression as a major source of empirical evidence.
Abstract: Do workers receive the wage a competitive labor market would award their capabilities, or do disequilibrium and structural factors in the labor market result in workers of comparable productive ability receiving sharply different wages over protracted periods of time? The extent to which competitive forces dominate the wage determination process has been and is a central and controversial issue in labor economics. The competitive theory of wage determination is the focal point of debate. A compact statement of the competitive theory is that, given the overall level of real wages, a worker's wage is determined by his productive capabilities-that is, by his innate ability and investments in human capital. While most economists have viewed the competitive theory as the standard model of the wage determination process, it has not gone unchallenged. The institutionalist thrust in labor economics during the early postwar period and the more recent internal and dual labor market theories are examples of such challenges.l Attempting to solidify support for their respective positions, both sides in the debate make extensive use of the cross-sectional wage regression as a major source of empirical evidence. Supporters of the competitive theory emphasize the standard finding that human capital variables such as education and experience, which are taken as proxies for productive ability, are important in explaining wage or earnings variation.2 Challengers, on the other hand, stress the antithetical finding that even after controlling for measured differences in productive ability the residual variation in wages is large and at least partially accounted for by market structure variables such as union membership and occupational and industrial status.3
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TL;DR: The authors analyzes the effects of job mobility on earnings both at young and at older ages, taking into account the discontinuity of earnings across jobs, the decline of human capital investment within the job and over the life cycle, and the effect of mobility on the slope of the earnings profile.
Abstract: The paper analyzes the effects of job mobility on earnings both at young and at older ages. The model takes into account the discontinuity of earnings across jobs, the decline of human capital investment within the job and over the life cycle, and the effects of mobility on the slope of the earnings profile. Careful attention to the functional form of the earnings equation indicates why the coefficient of the current segment is usually larger than the coefficient of the previous segments. Findings from the NLS data include: (1.) Mobile individuals at all ages invest significantly less in on-the-job training. (2.) Although job mobility is associated with significant wage gains (across jobs), there is a substantial wage differential between the mobile and the non-mobile at older ages. (3.) The explanatory power of the earnings equation is significantly increased by accounting for the effects of job mobility; job mobility is an important determinant of the wage structure.
TL;DR: In this article, a psychological economic alternative is proposed which, in contrast to the economic model, is based on the individual's perceptions and expectations regarding costs and benefits, and a purely psychological cost benefit model is suggested, where the cost and benefit concepts are broadened to include all types of personal sacrifices and rewards.
Abstract: The usefulness of cost-benefit models for analyzing the individual's educational and occupational choice is discussed, with the choice after high school graduation as an example. As a background, the economic approach linked to the human capital concept is described as well as the use of cost-benefit analysis within this framework. Cost-benefit analysis is then discussed as a possible model within the area of educational and occupational choice. First, the traditional, strictly economic model is analyzed and criticized. A psychological economic alternative is proposed which, in contrast to the economic model, is based on the individual's perceptions and expectations regarding costs and benefits. As a third step, a purely psychological cost-benefit model is suggested, where the cost and benefit concepts are broadened to include all types of personal sacrifices and rewards. This model is regarded as more realistic for the individual's career choice than the economic prototypes.