Integrating Human Capital with Human Development: Toward a Broader and More Human Conception of Human Capital

John F. Tomer

Chapter Chapter 2 in Integrating Human Capital with Human Development, 2016, pp 17-38 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Economics’ concept of human capital (HC) is very important as using this term allows us to recognize the huge quantity of real resources that are in people. These resources allow people in the economy to behave better and be more productive than if they were not endowed with these capabilities. There are, however, problems with the concept of HC in mainstream economics. Notably, mainstream HC reflects the mechanistic nature of the economics discipline. And utilizing the mainstream HC concept does not help one gain an adequate understanding of how human capacities develop or fail to develop during an individual’s lifespan. Because of these problems, the purpose of this chapter is to move beyond mainstream HC by integrating the HC concept with the concept of human development (HD). Doing this will allow us to better understand how important HC resources come into existence, develop further, and sometimes fail to develop. Based on a more developmental understanding of HC, one can appreciate that there are many more kinds of opportunities to invest in HC than one could conceive of from reading the mainstream HC literature. In particular, there is a great deal of HC formation that is psychological, social, and emotional in nature, that is, noncognitive in nature. How well people develop their noncognitive HC capabilities is extremely important for the behavior and productivity of the economy.

Keywords: Human Capital; Emotional Intelligence; Developmental Pathway; Human Capital Investment; Early Childhood Development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:paichp:978-1-137-45674-8_2

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DOI: 10.1057/9781137456748_2

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