IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nzt/nztwps/05-10.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Measures of human capital: A review of the literature

Author

Listed:

Abstract

Human capital is increasingly believed to play an important role in the growth process, however, adequately measuring its stock remains controversial. This paper identifies three general approaches to human capital measurement; cost-based, income-based and education-based, and presents a critical review of the theories and their applications to data from a range of countries. Emphasis on empirical evidence will be given to the case of New Zealand.

Suggested Citation

  • Trinh Le & John Gibson & Les Oxley, 2005. "Measures of human capital: A review of the literature," Treasury Working Paper Series 05/10, New Zealand Treasury.
  • Handle: RePEc:nzt:nztwps:05/10
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://treasury.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2018-04/twp05-10.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Romer, Paul M, 1986. "Increasing Returns and Long-run Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(5), pages 1002-1037, October.
    2. Nehru, Vikram & Swanson, Eric & Dubey, Ashutosh, 1995. "A new database on human capital stock in developing and industrial countries: Sources, methodology, and results," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 379-401, April.
    3. Mikael Lindahl & Alan B. Krueger, 2001. "Education for Growth: Why and for Whom?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(4), pages 1101-1136, December.
    4. Robert J. Barro, 1998. "Determinants of Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Empirical Study," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262522543, December.
    5. Angel de la Fuente & Rafael Doménech, 2006. "Human Capital in Growth Regressions: How Much Difference Does Data Quality Make?," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 4(1), pages 1-36, March.
    6. Barro, Robert J. & Lee, Jong-Wha, 1993. "International comparisons of educational attainment," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 363-394, December.
    7. Dale W. Jorgenson & Barbara M. Fraumeni, 1992. "The Output of the Education Sector," NBER Chapters, in: Output Measurement in the Service Sectors, pages 303-341, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Daniel Cohen & Marcelo Soto, 2007. "Growth and human capital: good data, good results," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 51-76, March.
    9. Jeong, Byeongju, 2002. "Measurement of human capital input across countries: a method based on the laborer's income," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 333-349, April.
    10. Barro, Robert J & Lee, Jong-Wha, 2001. "International Data on Educational Attainment: Updates and Implications," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 53(3), pages 541-563, July.
    11. Trinh Le & John Gibson & Les Oxley, 2003. "Cost‐ and Income‐based Measures of Human Capital," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(3), pages 271-307, July.
    12. Robert J. Barro, 1991. "Economic Growth in a Cross Section of Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(2), pages 407-443.
    13. Benhabib, Jess & Spiegel, Mark M., 1994. "The role of human capital in economic development evidence from aggregate cross-country data," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 143-173, October.
    14. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number minc74-1, March.
    15. Levine, Ross & Renelt, David, 1992. "A Sensitivity Analysis of Cross-Country Growth Regressions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(4), pages 942-963, September.
    16. Mireille Laroche & Marcel Mérette, "undated". "Measuring Human Capital in Canada," Working Papers-Department of Finance Canada 2000-05, Department of Finance Canada.
    17. Kyriacou, George A., 1991. "Level and Growth Effects of Human Capital: A Cross-Country Study of the Convergence Hypothesis," Working Papers 91-26, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University.
    18. Psacharopoulos, George, 1994. "Returns to investment in education: A global update," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 22(9), pages 1325-1343, September.
    19. Costas Azariadis & Allan Drazen, 1990. "Threshold Externalities in Economic Development," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(2), pages 501-526.
    20. Lau, Lawrence J. & Jamison, Dean T. & Louat, Frederic F., 1991. "Education and productivity in developing countries : an aggregate production function approach," Policy Research Working Paper Series 612, The World Bank.
    21. The Treasury, 2001. "Human Capital and the Inclusive Economy," Treasury Working Paper Series 01/16, New Zealand Treasury.
    22. Mulligan, C. B. & Sala-i-Martin, X., 1997. "A labor income-based measure of the value of human capital: An application to the states of the United States," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 159-191, May.
    23. Wachtel, Paul, 1997. "A labor-income based measure of the value of human capital: An application to the states of the US: Comments," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 193-196, May.
    24. Sofia Ahlroth & Anders Björklund & Anders Forslund, 1997. "The Output Of The Swedish Education Sector," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 43(1), pages 89-104, March.
    25. John W. Kendrick, 1976. "The Formation and Stocks of Total Capital," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number kend76-1, March.
    26. Jacob Mincer, 1958. "Investment in Human Capital and Personal Income Distribution," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66, pages 281-281.
    27. Tao, Hung-Lin & Stinson, Thomas F., 1997. "An Alternative Measure of Human Capital Stock," Bulletins 7466, University of Minnesota, Economic Development Center.
    28. Arrow, Kenneth J., 1973. "Higher education as a filter," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 193-216, July.
    29. B. F. Kiker, 1966. "The Historical Roots of the Concept of Human Capital," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 74, pages 481-481.
    30. Larry E. Jones & Rodolfo Manuelli, 1990. "A Convex Model of Equilibrium Growth," NBER Working Papers 3241, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    31. Ahuja,Vinod Kumar & Filmer,Deon P. & Ahuja, Vinod*Filmer, Deon, 1995. "Educational attainments in developing countries : new estimates and projections disaggregated by gender," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1489, The World Bank.
    32. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling and Earnings," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 41-63, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    33. Romer, Paul M., 1990. "Human capital and growth: Theory and evidence," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 251-286, January.
    34. Eisner, Robert, 1989. "The Total Incomes System of Accounts," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226196381, September.
    35. Daron Acemoglu, 2001. "Human Capital Policies and the Distribution of Income: A Framework for Analysis and Literature Review," Treasury Working Paper Series 01/03, New Zealand Treasury.
    36. Jones, Larry E & Manuelli, Rodolfo E, 1990. "A Convex Model of Equilibrium Growth: Theory and Policy Implications," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 1008-1038, October.
    37. Barro, Robert J & Lee, Jong Wha, 1996. "International Measures of Schooling Years and Schooling Quality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 218-223, May.
    38. Judson, Ruth, 2002. "Measuring Human Capital Like Physical Capital: What Does It Tell Us?," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 209-231, July.
    39. Behrman, Jere R & Birdsall, Nancy, 1983. "The Quality of Schooling: Quantity Alone is Misleading," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(5), pages 928-946, December.
    40. Wolff, Edward N., 2000. "Human capital investment and economic growth: exploring the cross-country evidence," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 433-472, December.
    41. Nazrul Islam, 1995. "Growth Empirics: A Panel Data Approach," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(4), pages 1127-1170.
    42. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Paul Romer on mathiness
      by Noah Smith in Noahpinion on 2015-05-16 21:02:00

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Donghyun Oh & Almas Heshmati & Hans Lööf, 2012. "Technical change and total factor productivity growth for Swedish manufacturing and service industries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(18), pages 2373-2391, June.
    2. Baruch Lev & Suresh Radhakrishnan & Weining Zhang, 2009. "Organization Capital," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 45(3), pages 275-298, September.
    3. Alexander Murray, 2016. "Partial versus Total Factor Productivity: Assessing Resource Use in Natural Resource Industries in Canada," CSLS Research Reports 2016-20, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    4. Benos, Nikos & Zotou, Stefania, 2014. "Education and Economic Growth: A Meta-Regression Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 669-689.
    5. Tomaso Pompili & Michela Martinoia, 2011. "Building Synthetic Indicators For Aspects Of Territorial Capital Towards Their Impact On Regional Performance," ERSA conference papers ersa11p1528, European Regional Science Association.
    6. Michela Martinoia, 2014. "Local resources and territorial performance. Measures of natural, cultural and human capital," LIUC Papers in Economics 278, Cattaneo University (LIUC).
    7. P. Guerrieri & M. Luciani & V. Meliciani, 2011. "The determinants of investment in information and communication technologies," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(4), pages 387-403.
    8. Aleknavičiūtė Rasa & Skvarciany Viktorija & Survilaitė Simona, 2016. "The Role of Human Capital for National Innovation Capability in Eu Countries," Economics and Culture, Sciendo, vol. 13(1), pages 114-125, June.
    9. Ellen McGrattan, 2020. "Intangible Capital and Measured Productivity," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 37, pages 147-166, August.
    10. O’Mahony, Mary & Pastor, José Manuel & Peng, Fei & Serrano, Lorenzo & Hernández, Laura, 2012. "Output growth in the post‐compulsory education sector: the European experience," MPRA Paper 44016, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Sylvain Dessy & Tiana Rambeloma, 2009. "Immigration Policy, Remittances, and Growth in the Migrant-Sending Country," Cahiers de recherche 0915, CIRPEE.
    12. Katsiaryna Svirydzenka & Martin Petri, 2017. "Mauritius: The Drivers of Growth – Can the Past Be Extended?," Journal of Banking and Financial Economics, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management, vol. 2(8), pages 54-83, October.
    13. Felix Roth, 2022. "Revisiting Intangible Capital and Labor Productivity Growth, 2000–2015: Accounting for the Crisis and Economic Recovery in the EU," Contributions to Economics, in: Intangible Capital and Growth, chapter 0, pages 17-42, Springer.
    14. Alexandre Rambaud & Jacques Richard, 2016. "The " Triple Depreciation Line " (TDL) accounting model and its application to the Human Capital," Working Papers hal-01260004, HAL.
    15. Dean Hyslop & Dave Maré, 2009. "Skill Upgrading in New Zealand, 1986–2001," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 42(4), pages 422-434, December.
    16. Yuanbo Qiao & Xiaoyan Shao & Zhuolin Han & Hao Duan, 2023. "The Impact of Investments in Physical Capital, Labor, and Knowledge Capital on Enterprise Market Value: Estimation and Optimization," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-19, September.
    17. Michela Martinoia & Tomaso Pompili, 2015. "Building synthetic indicators for aspects of territorial capital," LIUC Papers in Economics 290, Cattaneo University (LIUC).
    18. repec:cmj:networ:y:2013:i:1:p:12-25 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Bálint BALOGH, 2013. "How To Measure Human Capital: A Short Review," Network Intelligence Studies, Romanian Foundation for Business Intelligence, Editorial Department, issue 1, pages 21-36, July.
    20. Alexander S. Skorobogatov, 2012. "The value of human capital and health behavior," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 32(2), pages 1785-1796.
    21. Tânia Pinto & Aurora Teixeira, 2023. "Does scientific research output matter for Portugal’s economic growth?," GEE Papers 0174, Gabinete de Estratégia e Estudos, Ministério da Economia, revised Jul 2023.
    22. Otaviano Canuto & Danny M. Leipziger, 2012. "Ascent after Decline : Regrowing Global Economies after the Great Recession," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2233, December.
    23. Chiappero-Martinetti, Enrica & Sabadash, Anna, 2014. "Integrating Human Capital and Human Capabilities in Understanding the Value of Education," MPRA Paper 61800, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    24. Haizheng Li & Barbara M. Fraumeni & Zhiqiang Liu & Xiaojun Wang, 2009. "Human Capital In China," NBER Working Papers 15500, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Les OXxley & Ttrinh Le & John Gibson, 2008. "Measuring Human Capital: Alternative Methods and International Evidence," Korean Economic Review, Korean Economic Association, vol. 24, pages 283-344.
    2. Trinh Le & John Gibson & Les Oxley, 2003. "Cost‐ and Income‐based Measures of Human Capital," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(3), pages 271-307, July.
    3. Angel de la Fuente & Antonio Ciccone, 2003. "Human capital in a global and knowledge-based economy," UFAE and IAE Working Papers 562.03, Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC).
    4. Wößmann, Ludger, 2000. "Specifying Human Capital: A Review, Some Extensions, and Development Effects," Kiel Working Papers 1007, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    5. Giuseppe Folloni & Giorgio Vittadini, 2010. "Human Capital Measurement: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 248-279, April.
    6. Ludger Wößmann, 2003. "Specifying Human Capital," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(3), pages 239-270, July.
    7. Eric A. Hanushek & Ludger Woessmann, 2008. "The Role of Cognitive Skills in Economic Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 46(3), pages 607-668, September.
    8. Simeonova-Ganeva, Ralitsa, 2006. "Влияние На Човешкия Капитал Върху Икономическия Растеж (България, 1949-2005 Г.) [The Impact of Human Capital on the Economic Growth (Bulgaria, 1949-2005)]," MPRA Paper 37244, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Angel De la Fuente, 2011. "Human capital and productivity," Working Papers 1103, BBVA Bank, Economic Research Department.
    10. repec:cmj:networ:y:2013:i:1:p:12-25 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Gregorio Giménez Esteban & Carmen López Pueyo & Jaime Sanaú Villarroya, 2011. "La medición del capital humano de los países de la OCDE," Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación volume 6, in: Antonio Caparrós Ruiz (ed.), Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación 6, edition 1, volume 6, chapter 57, pages 933-952, Asociación de Economía de la Educación.
    12. ?gel de la Fuente, "undated". "Convergence Across Countries And Regions: Theory And Empirics," UFAE and IAE Working Papers 447.00, Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC).
    13. Capolupo, Rosa, 2009. "The New Growth Theories and Their Empirics after Twenty Years," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 3, pages 1-72.
    14. Bálint BALOGH, 2013. "How To Measure Human Capital: A Short Review," Network Intelligence Studies, Romanian Foundation for Business Intelligence, Editorial Department, issue 1, pages 21-36, July.
    15. Benos, Nikos & Zotou, Stefania, 2014. "Education and Economic Growth: A Meta-Regression Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 669-689.
    16. Zhang, Xiaobei & Wang, Xiaojun, 2021. "Measures of human capital and the mechanics of economic growth," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    17. Michael S. Delgado & Daniel J. Henderson & Christopher F. Parmeter, 2014. "Does Education Matter for Economic Growth?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 76(3), pages 334-359, June.
    18. Marcelo Soto, 2006. "The Causal Effect of Education on Aggregate Income," Working Papers 0605, International Economics Institute, University of Valencia.
    19. Serge Coulombe & Jean-Francois Tremblay, 2009. "Education, Productivity and Economic Growth: A Selective Review of the Evidence," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 18, pages 3-24, Spring.
    20. João Paulo Pereira, 2005. "Measuring Human Capital in Portugal," Notas Económicas, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, issue 21, pages 16-34, June.
    21. Abdeljalil Mazzaourou & Kamal Chakir, 2023. "Governance of territorial human capital: An attempt to develop a composite index in the SEMCs and the EACs," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 42(1), pages 247-263, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    human capital; economic growth;

    JEL classification:

    • C52 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Evaluation, Validation, and Selection
    • F43 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Economic Growth of Open Economies
    • N10 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nzt:nztwps:05/10. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CSS Web and Publishing, The Treasury (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/tregvnz.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.