Human Capital and Economic Opportunity

INET awarded a grant to The Human Capital Research Working Group, headed by James Heckman of Chicago University, to initiate a 3-year program of human capital and economic opportunity research.

The project addresses the failure of markets to accurately price the economic value of human capital and the consequences of this failure, notably economic development distortions, declining growth, and rising economic inequality.

Currently there is a great decline in the literacy level of adults in United States, when the demand for skilled labor is increasing. The slowdown in labor force quality growth threatens U.S. productivity growth and international competitiveness. It helps fuel growing social inequality and makes it difficult to solve national problems like attaining fiscal sustainability.

The program hopes to restore and strengthen human capital development research with macro markets and build an international network of researchers from multiple disciplines.

For up-to-date information on the progress of the Human Capital Research Working Group, please visit the website.

• Press Release, January 20, 2012: Nobel Prize Winner and University of Chicago Distinguished Professor James Heckman Gathers Prominent Scholars, Business Leaders, and Educators To Discuss Financing Human Capital Development
• Chicago, February 18, 2012: Research Group Explored Approaches to Inequality at Meeting: Matching Mechanisms, Market Design Seen as Tools to Address Inequality