The meaning of human capital

Question 1: How to understand the concept of "human capital"

Human capital is opposite to physical capital. There is no unified statement about the concept and definition of human capital. Most experts and scholars prefer the expression of the concept of human capital by T.W. Schultz and G.S. Becker, the founders of human capital theory. Schulz believes that human capital (human capital) is "the ability of people as producers and consumers" and "human capital is a strict economic concept... It is a kind of capital because it is a future income or satisfaction, or a source of future income and satisfaction.” Therefore, we can define human capital as: the labor ability that is formed through human capital investment, resides in workers, and can bring permanent sources of income to its users. It is based on the quantity and quality of a certain number of workers. manifestations of immaterial capital. Generally speaking, workers' knowledge, skills and physical strength (health status) constitute human capital. This definition includes the following meanings:

(1) Human capital does not refer to the workers themselves, but to the knowledge, skills and physical strength possessed by the workers.

(2) The acquisition of human capital or the increase of human capital stock must be formed through conscious investment in human capital.

(3) Human capital is an ability that can bring about a permanent source of income, which means that human capital is productive as capital.

From such a conceptual definition, we can get the characteristics of human capital: First, the carrier of human capital is people, and human capital and its carrier cannot be separated at any time. This is the relationship between human capital and The most essential difference between all other forms of capital; secondly, human capital is the product of investment; thirdly, human capital can bring benefits to its owners and users, which is reflected as an earning capacity.

Question 2: Who is the scholar who first used the concept of human capital? The scholar who first used the concept of human capital was Schulz.

It was Schulz who first proposed the human capital theory and gave a new explanation of the dynamics of economic development. In his long-term agricultural economic research, he found that the important reason for the rapid growth of agricultural output in the United States is no longer the increase in land, labor or capital stock, but the improvement of human skills and knowledge. At the same time, he found that some of the huge increases in workers' wages have yet to be explained. He attributes this partly to the result of investment in people. Therefore, Schulz proposed the human capital theory in 1960. Its central argument is that the improvement of human resources plays a far more important role in economic growth than the increase of physical capital. In the same year, Schultz’s speech on “Human Capital Investment” at the 73rd Annual Conference of American Economics was called the “first creation” of human capital theory, proving the huge contribution of education to economic development.

The so-called human capital refers to the general term for the knowledge, technology, innovative concepts and management methods that workers invest in enterprises. Its most important feature is that human resources naturally belong to individuals and can be traded. An enterprise is a contractual relationship between financial capital and human capital.

Question 3: Specific definition of human capital theory According to the definition, human capital management can be understood from two aspects, namely: 1. Management of external factors of human resources - quantity. The quantitative management of human resources is to properly train, organize and coordinate human resources according to human and material resources and their changes, so that the two can always maintain the best proportion and organic combination, so that people and materials can give full play to their best potential. Good effect. 2. Quality management of the intrinsic elements of human resources. Mainly refers to the use of modern scientific methods to effectively manage people's thoughts, psychology and behaviors (including the coordination, control and management of individual and group thoughts, psychology and behaviors), and give full play to people's subjective initiative to achieve organizational goals.

Question 4: The main significance of human capital theory. Among all the resources possessed by human beings, human resources are the most precious and have naturally become the core of modern management. Continuously improving the level of human resources development and management is not only a need to develop the economy and improve market competitiveness, but also an important guarantee for the long-term prosperity of a country, a nation, a region, and an unit. It is also an important guarantee for a modern person to fully develop his or her potential. , important measures to adapt to society and transform society. The main significance of human resource management is: 1. Through reasonable management, we can achieve lean and efficient human resources and obtain maximum use value. And it is pointed out: Maximizing the use value of people = maximizing the effective skills of people. 2． By taking certain measures to fully mobilize the enthusiasm and creativity of employees, that is, to maximize people's subjective initiative. The survey found that employees who are paid by the hour only need to exert 20%-30% of their abilities every day to keep their jobs. However, if its enthusiasm and creativity are fully mobilized, 80%-90% of its potential can be realized. 3． Cultivate well-rounded people. The development of human society, whether it is economic, political, military, or cultural development, the ultimate goal must be implemented for people - everything is for the development of people themselves.

Education and training are playing an increasingly important role in human resource development and management. Marx pointed out that education is not only a way to improve social production, but also the only way to create all-round development of people. In fact, the significance of modern human resource management can be understood from three levels, namely, country, organization, and individual. National policies such as "rejuvenating the country through science and education" and "comprehensively improving the quality of workers" are actually talking about the development and management of human resources of a country and a nation. Only when a country's human resources are fully developed and effectively managed can a country prosper and a nation revitalize. In an organization, only by seeking useful talents, using talents rationally, managing talents scientifically, and developing talents effectively can the achievement of organizational goals and the realization of personal value be promoted. For individuals, there are issues such as developing potential, improving skills, adapting to society, integrating into organizations, creating value, and contributing to society, all of which depend on the management of human resources. We do not talk about human resource management from the macro level and micro level, that is, the country and individuals, but talk about modern human resource management from the meso level, that is, for enterprise organizations. Therefore, more attention is paid to the value and significance of modern human resource management to an enterprise. Here, it is believed that the significance of modern human resources management to enterprises is at least reflected in the following aspects: 1. To corporate decision-makers. People, finances, materials, information, etc. can be said to be the main aspects of enterprise management. People are the most important, living, and first resource. Only by managing the resource "people" well can we grasp the management. The essence and program can only be seen clearly. 2． To the human resources management department. People are not only "objects" to be managed, but also "subjects" with thoughts, feelings, and subjective initiative. How to formulate scientific, reasonable, and effective human resources management policies and systems, and provide effective information for the decision-making of corporate organizations, will always be These are all topics for the human resources management department. 3． To general managers. No manager can be an "omnipotent messenger"; rather, he should play the role of "decision-making, guidance, and coordination" for the work of his subordinates. He not only needs to complete business work effectively, but also needs to train subordinates, develop employee potential, establish a good team organization, etc. 4. to an ordinary employee. Everyone wants to control their own destiny, but what are they suitable for? What are the goals and values ??of the business organization? What are the job responsibilities? How can you effectively integrate into the organization? How can you develop your potential and give full play to yourself based on the goals of the business organization? Ability, how to design their career life, etc. These are issues that every employee is very concerned about and deeply confused about. We believe that modern human resources management will provide effective help to every employee.

Question 5: The significance of human capital investment 1. Analyze its mechanism for economic growth from the factors of human capital and its efficient production function. Human capital is an important factor in determining economic growth, and the key lies in its special production function. From the perspective of the production process, it has production functions in terms of factors and efficiency. The former means that human capital is an essential prerequisite or input factor in the production process. The latter means that human capital is the key factor in improving production efficiency, and the approach is:

(1) The increase in human capital investment can improve the production efficiency of human capital itself;

( 2) Increased investment in human capital can improve the production efficiency of other production factors. As a factor of production, human capital directly contributes to economic growth, and at the same time it promotes economic growth by promoting scientific and technological progress. Scientific and technological progress depends on the improvement of human capital, and technological progress is the fundamental reason why the return on scale of human capital does not decrease or increase. It can be seen that economic growth depends on the progress of science and technology, as well as the increase of human capital (Li Jianmin, 1999).

2. Analyze the mechanism of human capital in economic growth from its knowledge effect and external effect. The knowledge effect of human capital includes three aspects: demand effect of knowledge progress, income effect and substitution effect. The demand effect of knowledge progress means that new knowledge useful in economic development requires new forms of material capital, or new labor skills, or even both. The knowledge income effect of human capital investment means that people who are educated and trained with more knowledge and abilities will be more productive because they have higher discernment and can seize investment profit opportunities anytime and anywhere. The knowledge substitution effect of human capital is first manifested in our ability to increase resources through the advancement of knowledge. Compared with various factors, human capital's complementary and substitutive roles have become increasingly important. It is the substitution effect of knowledge that can overcome the shortage of natural resources, material capital and "native labor" in economic development and maintain sustainable economic development. The substitution effect of knowledge is also reflected in the fact that human capital can generate incremental returns, eliminating the negative impact of diminishing marginal returns on factors such as physical capital on long-term economic growth.

Robert Lucas believes that what is separated from production and obtained through school education is general knowledge. These human capital can produce internal effects, that is, contributions to the productivity of investors themselves. What is gained through “learning by doing” is specialized knowledge, and these human capital can produce external effects, also called spillover effects, that is, contributions to the productivity of factors other than investors.

What is important is the external effect, which allows people's average skill level or human capital level to be transferred between people, with the result that not only their own productivity is increased, but also the productivity of labor and physical capital is increased, and incremental returns in production are generated . Using the spillover effect of human capital to explain technological progress shows that economic growth is the result of the continuous accumulation of human capital. Thinking that knowledge is a form of human capital, and human capital is the "engine" of growth --- from fx678 Financial Channel.

With the rise of the new economy, people's contribution to economic development is increasing, and people realize that human resources are also a kind of capital. As time goes by, the role of human capital is growing. Human capital will be the most important capital in any economic entity. Whether it is an enterprise or a country, it is necessary to create a growth environment for talents so that people's potential can be fully utilized. , maximize the conversion of human resources into human capital, and vigorously enhance our country's human capital.

Question 6: The difference between human resources and human capital The difference between "human resources" and "human capital"

HC Network August 26, 2005 8:02 Information source: hc360HC360

These two concepts are a bit popular and imported, although they have existed abroad for decades and have been well applied. But in China - even many companies that are "practicing" and many scholars who are doing research - all have different perspectives and opinions. This article is based on the idea that the more arguments, the better. I would like to add to the chaos and contribute some strength to the final *** consciousness.

After China entered the market-oriented reform, the understanding and management of "people" within enterprises have undergone tremendous changes. In the past few years, the concept of "human resources" was introduced to China, and both the management and business circles are flocking to this new concept. However, when domestic enterprises just began to accept the concept of "human resources", "human capital" came along again. There is only one word difference between these two concepts. It is not easy to distinguish the essential difference from the words, let alone make a judgment about whether they are equal or inferior.

In fact, the management concepts of "human resources" and "human capital" are both economic and management achievements produced in the United States. Like many methods and concepts in economics and management, "human resources" and "human capital" have not yet been finally distinguished from each other, and this may not even become a problem at all. Each of them has its applicable environment, and also shows significant differences in some aspects.

1. Economic explanation and significance of the difference between "human resources" and "human capital"

The difference between human resources and human capital first lies in treating "human resources" as As "resources" or "capital". Regarding the difference between resources and capital, we can start with an example.

In 2000, 11 sandstorms occurred in Beijing. Scientists found that the sandstorms mainly came from Inner Mongolia, and the desertification of Inner Mongolia's grasslands was one of the root causes. An important reason for grassland desertification is that grassland is overused as a livestock resource and lacks maintenance. After the reform and opening up, Inner Mongolia's animal husbandry industry began to break away from the "big pot rice" and adopted a policy similar to the "household production quota" in the planting industry. But the difference is that farmers not only get the property rights of their crops, but also the use rights of the land; while the herdsmen only get the property rights of their livestock, and the property rights of the pastures (including the use rights therein) are completely "owned by the state." Such policies result in herdsmen only caring about the direct benefits of grazing, without considering the "cost" of pasture. In other words, for herders, grassland is only an available resource (not capital), and the profits and losses of the grassland have no direct interest in the herdsmen. When a herdsman decides whether to expand his herd, he only needs to consider whether the marginal income is greater than the unit variable cost of each sheep. That is, when "marginal income > unit variable cost", the herdsman has the motivation to expand his herd. This is indeed the case, and its consequences are serious degradation and unsustainable development of pastures. Therefore, some economists suggest learning from agricultural experience and devolving the right to use grassland from the state to herdsmen, turning grassland from an “external” resource to herdsmen’s “internal” capital. In this way, there will be an additional fixed cost (the cost of pasture) in the herdsman's cost expenditure. When calculating his input and output, the herdsman must consider the opportunity cost of the loss of pasture and sustainable development issues, that is, only when " When "marginal income > marginal cost (including marginal fixed cost) + opportunity cost", he will have the motivation to expand the herd. Thus achieving the optimal allocation of social resources.

The transformation of human resources from "resources" to "capital" is also similar. When an enterprise treats human resources as external resources, it has no incentive to consider the cost of time and energy that employees pay while contributing to the enterprise. When the salary is basically constant, it only needs to meet the condition that the employee's marginal contribution is >0. Theoretically, companies have enough legitimate economic reasons to ignore the possibility of employees dying from overwork in order to pursue the last penny of economic benefits.

The disadvantages of this mechanism are obvious.

For society as a whole, these costs incurred on employees are not fully reflected in the "accounting books" in the minds of corporate managers. Enterprises only consider explicit costs (salaries) when using manpower, regardless of implicit costs. This is the first waste of total social resources; on the other hand, a large part of employees' extra contributions (such as health losses) is transferred to social welfare accounts to pay for it. As a kind of public expenditure, social welfare must be used with low efficiency. This is a problem for the society... >>

Question 7: Human capital in the financial sense In modern society, economic globalization has accelerated enterprises' demand for all types of talents. More and more enterprises have realized that the key to enterprise competition under market economy conditions is the competition for talents. Therefore, enterprises should strengthen investment in human resources, effectively grasp the direction and focus of human capital investment, and obtain high-efficiency investment returns. In our country, state-owned enterprises play a decisive role in socialist construction and national economic development. Since the reform and opening up, although the overall strength of the state-owned economy has continued to increase, the decline of the state-owned economy and the long-term large-scale losses of state-owned enterprises have become an indisputable fact. What are the reasons for the difficulties of state-owned enterprises? Therefore, at this stage, the discussion of human capital investment issues for my country's state-owned enterprises will have more research value and far-reaching influence.

Question 8: What are the main contents of human capital theory, and what is the practical significance of this theory? China’s education situation is prosperous. But investment in education over the past 20 years has not been enough. In 1995, education expenditures by all levels of government in China accounted for about 2.5% of GDP. At the same time, China's physical investment (such as investment in buildings, infrastructure, and machinery and equipment) has been relatively high for a long time, accounting for 1% of GDP. of more than 30%. In the United States, the proportions of investment in human capital and physical capital are 5.4% and 17% respectively. During the same period, Japan's education investment accounted for 3.6% of GDP, the Philippines's was 3%, and the world average was 5.2%. In 1995, the proportion of China's education investment was relatively low. From 1991 to 2002, the proportion of China’s government’s investment in education increased from 2.5% to 3.3%, an increase. At the same time, non-government investment in education grew rapidly, from 3.3% to 5.2%. In 2003, China's investment in education accounted for 5.3% to 5.4% of GDP, and material investment accounted for more than 50% of GDP. Compared with other countries, China's investment in education accounted for 5.3% to 5.4% of GDP. The benefits of human capital investment are the most fundamental and the returns are the greatest. What I mean by human capital includes not only formal education in schools, but also other inputs and training that enable people to acquire some skills. Currently, the growth of China's educational capital investment is low compared with other countries in the world, and even lower compared with China's physical investment. In addition, there are inequalities in human capital investment, such as regional and urban-rural differences. This inequality leads to low returns on investment in physical capital and impaired returns. A more balanced investment in education would boost economic development and reduce long-term economic imbalances. If the proportion of private investment continues to increase, talent education will be greatly promoted. We have always thought that the education market and the labor market are separate, but in fact they are closely connected. An open labor market and an effective lending market can effectively introduce resources into training, reduce various restrictions in the labor market, and ultimately reduce the cost of human capital, saving a lot of money for the government. Below is a brief review of human capital and technology. It is an obvious rule that if a person receives education, he will have skills, can do many things, can quickly adapt to this changing society, and effectively perform social functions. I don’t need to reiterate how fast China is developing. We should realize that a skilled labor force will bring benefits to China’s development. By world standards, the proportion of China’s population with a university education is still relatively low. In order to adapt to China's changes, in order to further maintain investment in physical capital, and in order to expand the opening of labor personnel, people with university education are needed. Data show that the university-educated population in Heilongjiang Province accounts for 4.87% of the total population, that in Beijing is 20.49%, and that in Shanghai is 15.07%. It can be seen that the distribution of China's talent market is unbalanced. For China as a whole, this proportion is also quite low, only 4.7%. In the United States this proportion is 25% to 30%. The continuous introduction of new technologies requires skilled and educated people to operate them. A principle of economics is that to obtain the best return on human capital investment and physical capital investment, a balance is needed, and a balance of investment is required in various geographical areas. The problem is that China does not invest enough in human capital, investing less in one region than in another, and investing less in education overall than other countries. Another problem in China is that there is very little public investment in education, with funding mainly coming from the Communist Party. There are large differences in investment in education between regions, and the forms of education are also different. China's education investment data in 2001 show that the education cost per student in Beijing is nearly 10,000 yuan, while in some provinces it is only more than 1,000 yuan, one-sixth of Beijing's. Because of different geographical locations, investment in education varies greatly. Beijing and Shanghai, which have high GDPs, invest more in education, while areas with lower GDPs invest less in education, which shows the importance of place of birth.

A good policy should change the phenomenon of "being born in a wealthier area and receiving higher investment in education". At the same time, even in the same wealthy areas, the proportion of investment in education is very different. Next, we discuss relying on private investment to promote education. This is very important to solve the problem of inequity and low-efficiency education, but it needs to be treated with caution. If tuition fees are charged, more resources can be used for teaching, but this requires the establishment of a good loan system. Students can repay the money according to their income in the future. We need to pay attention to the inequality in education expenses between urban and rural families. . It can be seen from the 1999 Chinese urban household expenditure table that urban families invested 1...>>

Question 9: The basic model of human capital investment represents What is the economic meaning?: Investing means acquiring some asset that is expected to increase its net profit flow over a period of time in the future. The costs and benefits of human capital investment are more complex than those of physical capital investment. The human capital investment return analysis model is the decision-making model of human capital investment.

First of all, we need to understand a concept, which is about discounting.

Discounting: Convert future money into its current value, which is the present value. This process is called discounting.

If the current interest rate is 10%, and someone lends 1 yuan now, the person will receive 1.10 yuan one year later, of which 1 yuan is the original principal, and 0.10 yuan is the original capital. It's interest. If a general formula is used to express this relationship, it is:

B0×(1+r)=B1　(1)

Here, B0 represents the current value of currency , B1 represents the value of the current currency one year later, and r is the interest rate. (1+r) means that not only the original value or principal can be recovered, but also interest. If you want to express the value of currency two years later, it can be derived from formula (1):

B0(1+r)(1+r)=B0(1+r)2=B2 (2 )

So the general formula can be obtained, that is, the value of a certain amount of current currency n years later:

B0×(1+r)n=Bn　(3)

Formula (3) shows how to calculate the value of a sum of money at a certain time in the future. If we want to convert a sum of money in the future into the current value, we can slightly transform formula (3) to get The discount formula we need:

Bn/(1+r)n=B0　(4)

The human capital investment model assumes that people make education and training choices based on Lifetime income (income spread over several years***) is used to compare recent investment costs with the present value of future income.

We use C to represent the total cost of human capital investment in the current period. As long as we compare the present value of future benefits with the current cost, we can know whether the investment in human capital is worthwhile. That is, investing in human capital is worthwhile if and only if the following formula holds: Formula: B1/(1+r)1+B2 /(1+r)2+ B3 /(1+r)3+…+ Bn/(1+r)n>C (5)

Among them, r represents the interest rate or discount rate, and the left side of the formula represents the total discounted income of human capital over the years.

Conclusion: As long as r is positive, future income will be progressively discounted. The larger r is, the lower the present value of future income is.

There are two ways to measure whether the above formula can be satisfied.

The first is the present value method, that is, first specifying the value of r, and then comparing the values ??at both ends of the equation to see whether the formula can be established.

The second is the internal rate of return method, which calculates the value of r by making the present value of income equal to the cost, and then adds this rate of return to the rate of return of other investments (such as bank interest rates) Compare. If the highest discount rate is greater than the rate of return on other investments, the human capital investment plan is feasible, otherwise it is not feasible.