The Human Capital Stock: A Generalized Approach: Reply
American Economic Review
vol. 109,
no. 3, March 2019
(pp. 1175-95)
Abstract
Human capital differences across countries can appear large or small depending on measurement methods. This Reply clarifies key assumptions and conceptual distinctions across accounting approaches. Accounting-based arguments for small human capital differences are difficult to sustain. By contrast, large human capital differences are theoretically and empirically coherent. Non-accounting arguments against large human capital variation are examined and their weaknesses pinpointed. This Reply also suggests a fruitful way forward for this literature, providing a natural conception of human capital that integrates literatures on ideas and institutions with the accounting of Jones (2014).Citation
Jones, Benjamin F. 2019. "The Human Capital Stock: A Generalized Approach: Reply." American Economic Review, 109 (3): 1175-95. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20181678Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- E24 Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
- I26 Returns to Education
- J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
- J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials