Research Details

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).

Type

Article

Author(s)

Benjamin F. Jones

Date Published

2019

Citations

Jones, Benjamin F.. 2019. The Human Capital Stock: A Generalized Approach: Reply. American Economic Review.(3): 2019.