In recent decades, human capital has become one of the most popular and influential research programmes in the academy. Its influence is not limited to economics, but has proved to be significant to many other social sciences; indeed, it has infused social and political debates about education and training. Moreover, human capital has become part of the jargon of many non-economists. Now, to help make sense of this critical concept, Routledge announces a new four-volume collection. It provides an extensive overview of the breadth and depth of human-capital research, highlighting not only the evolution of its theoretical and empirical development, but also the variety of topics that it has spawned. Edited and with a new introduction by a leading scholar, this collection gathers together the very best and most influential works.
Part I: Early Contributions on Human Capital
1. Early Reflections on Human Capital and the Economic Value of Education
1. Irving Fisher, ‘Senses of "Capital"’, Economic Journal, 1897, 7, 26, 199–213.
2. John R. Walsh, ‘Capital Concept Applied to Man’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1935, XLIX, 255–85.
3. B. F. Kiker, ‘The Historical Roots of the Concept of Human Capital’, Journal of Political Economy, 1966, 74, 5, 481–99.
Part II: The Modern Foundations of Human-Capital Research
2. Early Developments of the Human-Capital Research Programme
4. Jacob Mincer, ‘Investment in Human Capital and Personal Income Distribution’, Journal of Political Economy, 1958, 281–302.
5. Theodore Schultz, ‘Investment in Human Capital’, American Economic Review, 1961, LII, 4.
6. Jacob Mincer, ‘On the Job Training: Costs, Returns, and Some Implications’, Journal of Political Economy, 1962, 70, 50–79.
7. Gary Becker, ‘Investment in Human Capital: A Theoretical Analysis’, Journal of Political Economy, 1962, LXX, 5, 2, 9–49.
Part III: Debating the link between Education and Earnings
3. The Screening Debate
8. Kenneth Arrow, ‘Higher Education as a Filter’, Journal of Public Economics, 1972, 7, 193–216.
9. Michael Spence, ‘Job Market Signalling’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1973, 87, 3, 355–74.
10. Andrew Weiss, ‘Human Capital vs. Signalling Explanations of Wages’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 1995, 9, 4, 133–54.
4. Education and Ability
11. Zvi Griliches and William Mason, ‘Education, Income, and Ability’, Journal of Political Economy, 1972, 80, Supplement, 74–103.
12. Orley Ashenfelter and Cecilia Rouse, ‘Income, Schooling, and Ability: Evidence from a New Sample of Identical Twins’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1998, 113, 1, 253–84.
13. James Heckman and Edward Vytlacil, ‘Identifying The Role of Cognitive Ability in Explaining the Level of and Change in the Return to Schooling’, Review of Economics and Statistics, 2001, 83, 1, 1–12.
5. The Social Dimensions of Educational Achievement
14. S. Bowles and Herbert Gintis, ‘The Problem with Human Capital Theory: A Marxian Critique’, American Economic Review, 1975, 65, 2, 74–82.
15. James S. Coleman, ‘Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital’, American Journal of Sociology, 1988, 94, 95–120.
Part IV: Studying the Returns to Education
6. Human Capital and Age
16. Audrey Light, ‘The Effects of Interrupted Schooling on Wages’, Journal of Human Resources, 1995, 30, 3, 472–502.
17. James Monks, ‘The Impact of College Timing on Earnings’, Economics of Education Review, 1997, 16, 4, 419–23.
7. Human Capital and Gender
18. Jacob Mincer and Solomon Polachek, ‘Family Investments in Human Capital: Earnings of Women’, Journal of Political Economy, 1974, 82, 2, 76–108.
19. Gary S. Becker, ‘Human Capital, Effort, and the Sexual Division of Labor’, Journal of Labor Economics, 1985, 3, 1, Pt. 2, 33–58.
20. G. Becker, W. Hubbard, and K. Murphy, ‘Explaining the Worldwide Boom in Higher Education of Women’, Journal of Human Capital, 2010, 4, 3, 203–41.
8. Human Capital and Ethnic Background
21. William A. Darity Jr., ‘The Human Capital Approach to Black-White Earnings Inequality: Some Unsettled Questions’, Journal of Human Resources, 1982, 17, 1, 72–93.
22. James P. Smith, ‘Race and Human Capital’, American Economic Review, 1984, 74, 4, 685–98.
23. Barry Chiswick, ‘Differences in Education and Earnings Across Racial and Ethnic Groups: Tastes, Discrimination, and Investments in Child Quality’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1988, 103, 3, 571–97.
9. Quality Issues on Human Capital
24. David Card and Alan Krueger, ‘Does School Quality Matter? Returns to Education and the Characteristics of Public Schools in the United States’, Journal of Political Economy, 1992, 100, 1, 1–40.
25. J.-W. Lee and R. J. Barro, ‘Schooling Quality in a Cross-Section of Countries’, Economica, 2001, 68, 465–88.
10. Empirical Issues on the Returns to Education
26. Zvi Griliches, ‘Estimating the Returns to Schooling: Some Econometric Problems’, Econometrica, 1977, 45, 1, 1–22.
27. James J. Heckman, Lance J. Lochner, and Petra E. Todd, ‘Earnings Functions and Rates of Return’, Journal of Human Capital, 2008, 2, 1, 1–32.
Part V: Human Capital and the Labour Market
11. Human Capital and the Life-Cycle
28. Yoram Ben-Porath, ‘The Production of Human Capital and the Life Cycle of Earnings’, Journal of Political Economy, 1967, 75, 4, 1, 352–65.
29. Jacob Mincer and Haim Ofek, ‘Interrupted Work Careers: Depreciation and Restoration of Human Capital’, Journal of Human Resources, 1982, 17, 1, 3–24.
12. General and Specific Human Capital
30. Robert Topel, ‘Specific Capital, Mobility, and Wages: Wages Rise with Job Seniority’, Journal of Political Economy, 1991, 99, 1, 145–76.
31. Derek Neal, ‘Industry-Specific Human Capital: Evidence from Displaced Workers’, Journal of Labor Economics, 1995, 13, 4, 653–77.
13. Human Capital and Employment
32. N. Sicherman, ‘Overeducation in the Labor Market’, Journal of Labor Economics, 1991, 9, 2, 101–22.
33. Robert Topel, ‘What Have We Learned from Empirical Studies of Unemployment and Turnover?’, The American Economic Review, 1993, 83, 2, 110–15.
34. Kevin Murphy and Finis Welch, ‘Occupational Change and the Demand for Skill, 1940–1990’, American Economic Review, 1993, 83, 2, 122–6.
14. Human Capital and Migration
35. Larry Sjaastad, ‘The Costs and Returns of Human Migration’, Journal of Political Economy, 1962, 70, 5, 80–93.
36. Barry Chiswick, ‘The Effect of Americanization on the Earnings of Foreign-Born Men’, Journal of Political Economy, 1978, 86, 5, 897–921.
37. Jimy M. Sanders and Victor Nee, ‘Immigrant Self-Employment: The Family as Social Capital and the Value of Human Capital’, American Sociological Review, 1996, 61, 2, 231–49.
15. Human capital and Inequality
38. David Card and John E. DiNardo, ‘Skill-Biased Technological Change and Rising Wage Inequality: Some Problems and Puzzles’, Journal of Labor Economics, 2002, 20, 4.
39. David H. Autor, Lawrence F. Katz, and Melissa S. Kearney, ‘Trends in U.S. Wage Inequality: Revising the Revisionists’, Review of Economics and Statistics, 2008, 90, 2, 300–23.
40. Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, ‘The Inheritance of Inequality’, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2002, 16, 3, 3–30.
Part VI: Macro Effects of Human Capital
16. The Worldwide Expansion of Education: An Overview
41. Robert J. Barro and Jong-Wha Lee, ‘International Data on Educational Attainment: Updates and Implications’, Oxford Economic Papers, 2001, 53, 3, 541–63.
42. George Psacharopoulos and Harry Anthony Patrinos, ‘Returns to Investment in Education: A Further Update’, Education Economics, 2004, 12, 2, 111–34.
43. Christian Morrisson and Fabrice Murtin, ‘The Century of Education’, Journal of Human Capital, 2009, 3, 1, 1–42.
17. Human Capital and Economic Growth
44. Richard R. Nelson and Edmund S. Phelps, ‘Investment in Humans, Technological Diffusion, and Economic Growth’, American Economic Review, 1966, 56, 1–2, 69–75.
45. Paul Romer, ‘Increasing Returns and Long-Run Growth’, Journal of Political Economy, 1986, 94, 5, 1002–37.
46. Alan B. Krueger and Mikale Lindhal, ‘Education for Growth: Why and for Whom?’, Journal of Economic Literature, 2001, 39, 4, 1101–36.
18. Human Capital and Technology
47. Kenneth Arrow, ‘The Economic Implications of Learning by Doing’, Review of Economic Studies, 1962, 29, 3, 155–73.
48. Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz, ‘The Origins of Technology-Skill Complementarity’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1998, 113, 3, 693–732.
49. Daron Acemoglu, ‘Why Do New Technologies Complement Skills? Directed Technical Change and Wage Inequality’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1998, 113, 4, 1055–89.
50. D. Autor, Frank Levy, and Richard Murnane, ‘The Skill Content of Recent Technological Change: An Empirical Exploration’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2003, 118, 1279–334.
19. Human Capital and Development
51. O. Galor and O. Moav, ‘From Physical to Human Capital Accumulation: Inequality and the Process of Development’, Review of Economic Studies, 2004, 71, 4, 1001–26.
52. M. Beine, F. Docquier, and H. Rapoport, ‘Brain Drain and Human Capital Formation in Developing Countries: Winners and Losers’, Economic Journal, 2008, 118, 631–52.
Part VII: The Social Relevance of Human Capital
20. Non-Market Effects of Human Capital
53. Robert T. Michael, ‘Education in Nonmarket Production’, Journal of Political Economy, 1973, 81, 2, 1, 306–27.
54. Robert Haveman and Barbara Wolfe, ‘Schooling and Economic Well-Being: The Role of Nonmarket Effects’, Journal of Human Resources, 1984, 19, 3, 377–407.
21. Families and Human Capital
55. Gary Becker and Nigel Tomes, ‘Human Capital and the Rise and Fall of Families’, Journal of Labor Economics, 1986, 4, 3, 1–39.
56. J. Currie, ‘Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: Socioeconomic Status, Poor Health in Childhood, and Human Capital Development’, Journal of Economic Literature, 2009, 47, 1, 87–122.
22. Human Capital and Health
57. Michael Grossman, ‘On the Concept of Health Capital and the Demand for Health’, Journal of Political Economy, 1972, 80, 2, 223–55.
58. Donald Kenkel, ‘Health Behaviour, Health Knowledge, and Schooling’, Journal of Political Economy, 1991, 99, 2, 287–305.
59. G. Becker, ‘Health as Human Capital: Synthesis and Extensions’, Oxford Economic Papers, 2007, 59, 379–410.
23. Human Capital and Crime
60. Lance Lochner, ‘Education, Work, and Crime: A Human Capital Approach’, International Economic Review, 2004, 45, 3, 811–43.
24. The Political Implications of Human Capital
61. Matthew A. Baum and David A. Lake, ‘The Political Economy of Growth: Democracy and Human Capital’, American Journal of Political Science, 2003, 47, 2, 333–47.
62. Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, James A. Robinson, and Pierre Yared, ‘From Education to Democracy?’, American Economic Review, 2005, 95, 2, 44–9.
25. Human Capital and Religion
63. Nigel Tomes, ‘The Effects of Religion and Denomination on Earnings and the Returns to Human Capital’, Journal of Human Resources, 1984, 19, 4, 472–88.
64. Laurence R. Iannaccone, ‘Religious Practice: A Human Capital Approach’, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1990, 29, 3, 297–314.
