American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
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