This paper is a review of the literature in economics on the effect on earnings of human capital investment from Adam Smith to the early 1980s. It discusses the use of the net present value (NPV) technique by Walsh and Friedman and Kuznets, and Becker's use of the NPV to estimate the internal rate of return to schooling. The first regression-based…

Research on well-being and concern over the well-being of students and teachers has grown dramatically in recent years. Researchers and reformers in positive psychology and education, self-determination theory, social and emotional learning, liberal-democratic political and educational philosophy, and neo-Aristotelian theories of flourishing and…

We study how human capital diversification, in the form of double majoring, affects the response of earnings to labor market shocks. Double majors experience substantial protection against earnings shocks, of 56%. This finding holds across different model specifications and data sets. Furthermore, the protection double majors experience is more…

This study examines the return to education in South Korea by comparing metropolitan areas with non-metropolitan areas. It utilizes the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study from 2018 and 2019 for analysis, alongside the Mincer equation. The findings indicate that female workers have a higher return to education compared to male workers. The Oaxaca…

Using longitudinal data of college graduates in Colombia, we estimate labor market returns to postsecondary degrees and to various skills--including literacy, numeracy, foreign language, and field-specific skills. Graduates of academic programs and schools of higher reputation obtain higher earnings relative to vocational public programs. A one…

The global trend of higher education expansion has increasingly transformed knowledge-based economies, with Hong Kong exemplifying this phenomenon through a dramatic rise in university participation. Nevertheless, ongoing scholarly discussions question the economic returns to university education. The varied research outcomes may be attributed to…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to describe the experience of Millennials with a Bachelor Degree in Business Management or management related disciplines seeking employment in their field of study in NC the first three years after graduation. The theoretical foundation of the study was human capital theory. The research…

Background/purpose: This study investigates the costs and returns of education in Thailand, comparing the International and Bilingual Education Programs. It examines the financial implications of these educational choices, aiming to determine the economic viability of each program. The findings offer insights to guide parents and policymakers in…

This study explores perceived skill outcomes among graduates of 39 Australian higher education institutions in the short- to medium-term after course completion. While acknowledging important dimensions of graduate employability beyond the skills-based approach, we investigated graduate perspectives on their industry-relevant skill outcomes from…

This study deployed a mixed-method approach to explore how international graduates identified and strategically utilised their resources to negotiate employability in the host country. One hundred and eighty international graduates from Australian universities participated in a survey and in-depth interviews. Findings revealed that employability…

This article describes a conceptual and empirical approach for estimating a human capital production function of child development that incorporates mother- or child-fixed effects. The use of mother- or child-fixed effects is common in this applied economics literature, but its application is often inconsistent with human capital theory. We…

Early childhood education (ECE) is a key investment for improving learning and future outcomes. Yet, in the context of Uganda, it is not compulsory or free, which means that provision tends to be private, and hence there is limited access for children from disadvantaged families, particularly refugees. This article examines the level of access to,…

This paper develops a new measure of human capital, calculated as a cohort-weighted average of the quality of education (PISA scores) and the quantity of education (mean years of schooling). Contrary to the existing studies, the relative weights of quality and quantity are estimated (and not calibrated). The quality of education is estimated to be…

College graduates earn higher wages than noncollege graduates, but questions remain about the degree to which this wage difference is driven by learning in college or by the signal that the degree sends to employers. Based on a review of the literature, I propose that the value of a marketing degree is much less related to learning marketing than…

Vocational high schools aim to create graduates who are ready to work, but in reality, many graduates are not ready to work at this time. Low employability is the main problem. This study aims to design and test a theoretical model of the effect of entrepreneurial readiness, adversity quotient, and social intelligence on employability in…