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Why and How Should Human Capital be Measured in National Accounts?

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  • Nicolas Canry

Abstract

[eng] There is currently a significant divergence in the way in which education expenditure is perceived in economic theory and in national accounting: the former treats it as investment, the latter as consumption. In fact, the accounting framework is still structured around two major production factors (labour and physical capital), whereas human capital appears to be essential if certain current phenomena are to be perceived accurately, notably the resurgence of inequality in certain countries. This paper presents the work undertaken to incorporate human capital into national accounts and explores the two main methods used: that based on costs (inputs) and that based on income (output). We go on to use the inputs method to estimate the savings rate of USA, French and British households when education and health expenditure is transferred to investment. Only the inclusion of health expenditure would enable the USA savings rate to be redressed significantly.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicolas Canry, 2020. "Why and How Should Human Capital be Measured in National Accounts?," Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE), issue 517-518-5, pages 61-79.
    • Handle: RePEc:nse:ecosta:ecostat_2020_517t_5
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.24187/ecostat.2020.517t.2023
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E01 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Measurement and Data on National Income and Product Accounts and Wealth; Environmental Accounts
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity

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