Zeszyty naukowe
Autor: Anna Wieczorek-Szymańska 157
Strony: 157-170
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THE IDEA OF HUMAN CAPITAL IN THE THEORY OF ECONOMY – THE OVERVIEW OF CHOSEN APPROACHES

Summary

The article concerns the development of the idea of human capital, starting from ancient times when one noticed positive results of labor division and specialization. Nevertheless it was not until Smith who pointed out abilities and skills as category of real capital. T.W. Schultz who is perceived to be Smith’s continuator and the author of modern human capital theory, was the first one that described human resources expenses in terms of investment. In the second part of the article the author considers the category of human capital in three dimensions: macro level, the level of enterprise and individual human capital. Human capital on macro level refers to the knowledge, skills, health and energy that characterize particular society or nation. Whereas the enterprise’s human capital is connected to the category of intellectual capital and is analyzed in terms of quality and quantity. Finally one can identify individual human capital using for example definitions by M. Blaug or H. Król.