Human Capital: The Driving Force for Economic Development

✍ Scribed by Cosimo Perrotta, Salvatore Rizzello, Claudia Sunna

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2023
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 166
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book presents a new interpretation of the role of human capital and the state in driving economic development. It places these ideas within broader debates within the history of economic thought to highlight how the nature of economic activity is a collective and coordinated process. Through examining how the welfare state reversed traditional accumulation by relying on human capital growth, the importance of the state within the development process is emphasised, alongside the multifaceted nature of competition. Different forms of public expenditure are then evaluated to identify the most productive forms of public spending and the drivers of long term economic development.

This book questions the relationship between profits and rent and proposes a new kind of economic development based around human capital. It will be relevant to students and researchers interested in the history of economic thought, the political economy, and labour economics.

✦ Table of Contents

Acknowledgement
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction The Present Oppression of Labour: Causes and Consequences
1 Unemployment and Labour Oppression
2 Custom, Labour and Economic Development
3 The Role of the State in Promoting Economic Development
4 Conclusion
References
Chapter 2: Origins of the Economy as Collective Activity
1 The Individualistic Postulate
2 Four More Erroneous Assumptions
3 The Economy of the Palaeolithic
4 The Economic-Cultural Evolution of Mankind
5 The Production of Art, Ornamental Objects and Monuments
6 The Neolithic Period: The Economic Revolution and Conflict
7 The Birth of the Institutions
8 Conclusions
References
Chapter 3: Custom and Path Dependence in Economics
1 Introduction
2 Routine, Custom, Path Dependence
2.1 Routine
2.2 Custom
2.3 Path Dependence
3 Relevance for Economic Analysis
3.1 Custom and Uncertainty
3.2 Custom, Decision and Free Will
3.3 Custom and Efficiency
4 New Scenarios
5 Concluding Remarks
References
Chapter 4: The Debate Around the Role of the State in Promoting Economic Development
1 Introduction
2 A Brief Account of Development Strategies Since the 1950s
3 The Twist Inside Development Economics: From the “Big Picture” to Microfoundation and Randomised Evaluations
4 Chinese Economic Growth and Implications for Development Theory
5 Debates on Industrial Policy Approaches in Developed Countries
6 Conclusion
References
Chapter 5: Competition in Enlightenment Economists (with Some Teachings for Today)
1 Introduction
2 Freedom of Trade and Competition in Agriculture
2.1 Feudal Agriculture in the Modern Age
2.2 Boisguilbert: Agricultural Modernisation
2.3 Quesnay: Competition and Free Export of Wheat
2.4 Attacks to Property Privileges in the Name of Free Competition
3 Economic Freedom and Competition Against Monopolies and Privileges
4 Competition and High Wages
5 Competition and Conflict Between Private and General Interests
References
Chapter 6: Productiveness of Welfare Expenditures
1 The Question
2 The Classical Approach
3 The Neoclassical Approach
4 The Marxist Approach
5 Keynes’ View
6 Unlimited Needs and Investment in Human Capital
7 Conclusion
References
Chapter 7: Keynesian Policy Today: More Employment and More Human Capital
1 Introduction
2 Keynes’ Critique of Ricardo
3 Unemployment and Saving
4 The New Employment
4.1 State Intervention
4.2 The Disappearance of the Rentier
4.3 The Short Period
5 Keynesian Policies in the Welfare State
6 The New Problems Emerging After the Boom and Adjustment of Employment Policies
6.1 Goods in Excess and New Needs
6.2 Human Capital
6.3 Conflict Between Contrasting Interests
6.4 Rents and Inequalities
References
Chapter 8: Investing in Human Capital
1 Human Capital and Education Before the 1960s
2 Human Capital in the Welfare State and in Its Crisis
3 The Waste of Human Capital
4 Restarting the Growth of Human Capital
References
Index