Human capital extends the concept of physical capital to persons’ skills.

Evidence

Probably the most important and most original development in the economics of education in the past 30 years has been the idea that the concept of physical capital as embodied in tools, machines, and other productive equipment can be extended to include human capital as well (see Schultz 1961; Becker 1964). Just as physical capital is created by changes in materials to form tools that facilitate production, human capital is created by changes in persons that bring about skills and capabilities that make them able to act in new ways. — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 67

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the core definition of human capital in the economics of education, contrasted against physical capital.
• XREF: connects to: Family background splits into financial, human, and social capital that affect achievement differently — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 139; The human-capital concept entails that education is a consumer good, not transformative experience — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 168; Innovation is redefined as the income of invested human capital — Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at…, 1206 (+2 more)

Related

• Innovation is redefined as the income of invested human capital (similarity 0.84)
• The human-capital concept entails that education is a consumer good, not transformative experience (similarity 0.84)
• Parental human capital only benefits a child’s development when family relationships activate it. (similarity 0.81)
• Family background splits into financial, human, and social capital that affect achievement differently (similarity 0.81)
• Human capital theory originated with a neo-Keynesian, not Chicago neoliberals (similarity 0.79)
• Social capital facilitates actions that would otherwise be impossible. (similarity 0.78)
• Human capital theory originated to solve growth accounting’s unexplained residual (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Family background splits into financial, human, and social capital that affect achievement differently #expands (0.85) — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 139