Measuring Human Capital

Measuring Human Capital addresses a country’s most important resource: its own people. Bettering human capital benefits individuals and their country and leads to improved sustainability for the future. For many years economists only used Gross Domestic Product (GDP), now acknowledged to be inadequate without supplemental measures, to gauge a country’s overall value. There is now a recognition that many variables contribute to a country’s worth, which make accurate measurement difficult. Looking beyond GDP by focusing on human capital, researchers, policymakers, government officials, and students can understand what elements impact human capital and how they might improve it in order to increase economic growth and well-being.

• Addresses six major measures of human capital, covering at least 130 countries
• Describes both monetary and index estimates
• Includes two monetary measures by the World Bank and the Inclusive Wealth Report by UNEP and the Urban Institute of Kyushu University
• Includes four index measures by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation of the University of Washington, United Nations Development Programme, World Economic Forum, and World Bank
• Includes two country chapters, one on China and the other on the United States

Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, researchers, policymakers and government officials concerned with economic growth and well-being

I. Introduction

Introduction

II. Major Measures of Human Capital

II.A. Monetary Measures

1. The Impact of Air Pollution on Human Capital and National Wealth in Developing Countries

2. Global Human Capital: View from Inclusive Wealth

II.B. Indexes

3. The World Bank Human Capital Index

4. Human Development and Human Capital: A Perspective on Concepts and Metrics

5. Summary of Lim, S. S., et al.,"Measuring human capital: a systematic analysis of 195 countries and territories, 1990–2016"

6. Summary of World Economic Forum, "The global human capital report 2017 - Preparing people for the future of work"

III. Country Studies

7. Human Capital in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan: 1985-2017

8. Accumulation of Human and Market Capital: The Long View, 1948-2013