1of19 - Human Capital and Intergeneration Mobility - Introduction

GARY BECKER

This the first lecture in the "Lectures on Human Capital" series by Gary Becker. This series of lectures recorded during the Spring of 2010 are from ECON 343 - Human Capital, a class taught every year by Gary Becker at the University of Chicago. In this class, Becker expounds upon the theory of Human Capital that he helped create and for which he won the Nobel Prize. Please see attached lecture notes, video annotations, and reading list for more information.

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Professor Becker introduces the course objectives and discusses the main themes covered in his class. The main course subjects covered in the study of Human Capital are: investments in education in an altruistic model, trade-offs between human capital and physical capital investments, intergenerational income mobility, investments in health, marriage markets, fertility, on the job training, specialization and the division of labor, and the division of labor and the extent of the economy.

He defines human capital as special because it is inextricably linked to a human being and cannot be separated from her; the "capital" component comes because human capital like physical capital is durable. Becker establishes the main conceptual and practical similarities (i.e. economic return, depreciation, etc.) and differences (i.e. transferability, liquidity, etc.) and similarities between human and physical capital.
In this lecture, Becker establishes how he conceives of the study of Human Capital. He says that it is a subject of Economics that ties together micro and macroeconomics. The micro element comes from the link between parents and their children and the macro element because of how human capital is a main determinant of economic growth.

Key concepts: altruism with differences in ability, division of labor, education in an altruistic model, fertility, human capital, intergenerational income mobility, investments in health, marriage markets, physical capital, specialization and the division of labor.

Main discussions:
• Lecture 1, (11:50-13:05): Professor Becker discusses how human capital is involved in the more microeconomic aspects of economic behavior within the family and in the more macroeconomic aspects of economic development.
• Lecture 1, (14:45-21:15): Professor Becker explains one of the concepts that he reinforces throughout his class: the complementary between different forms of human capital and its implications.
• Lecture 1, (31:35-1:06:00): Professor Becker draws the main similarities and differences between human and physical capitals.

Main quotes:
• "(...) we'll try to show how by starting at the Micro we can build up a better understanding of what's going to happen at the Macro [level]".

References:
• Chapter II, Section 1: Human Capital Revisited in Becker, Gary. 1974. Human Capital. Third ed. pp. 15-25.
• Salvador Navarro Lozano. Notes on Gary Becker's Human Capital and the Economy. pp. 5-6.

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Lecture Notes:

Reading List:

Video Annotations:

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[andersonnkamba]

The lecture is the product from high quality human capital man kid will never replace=Prof Becker. You are wonderful. by Anderson Nkamba University of Zambia

[duskonanyavarld]

For viewers who have problems hearing i recommend to use headphones instead of loudspeakers, Headphones work like hearing aid and are better of recreate the audio waves.

[faridsefati]

خدا رحمت کند .دکتر پژویان را که ما رو در دوره دکتری با این استاد مبرز آشنا کرد .بحث allocation time واقعا عالی بود .

[santiagoirigoyen]

less than 50k views, while reggaeton artists get billions. People really dont realize these 19 videos are worth like... thousands of dollars. these students paid a lot to be there

[ВиталийК-мк]

Unfortunately, it's very hard to understand something not only because of the language barrier but because of the audition noise, too.However, glad to know, there is an opportunity to watch these lections for free.

[jjj]

The transcript function is available. The appropriate menu may be found next to the "clip" button - marked with three dots.

2:50 productivity based on the skills of the worker

[johnsonbrettr]

Thank you for posting these videos. Very interesting!

Auburn University '08

[unterbeer]

Ashamed to admit -- could've taken GB a couple decades ago. Did have one of Stigler's grad students for micro.

10:30 education and earnings and better quality of life

[werewasyo]

hey univ admins...here's a tip...spend that million dollar budget just a fraction of it on providing better microphones for recording your professors. it's gonna just cost you a hundred bucks. deal?

[TheBest-ffzz]

I'd appoint him as Sec. of education tommorow.

[superfreiheit]

Can someone create subtitles? 

It is very hard to understand what he is saying.

[josephwatson]

could you rerelease this with just his voice isolated and enhanced on the audio please

[superfreiheit]

very interssestig, but i do not understand what he says

[azapura]

Everything depends on what you're aiming to achieve. If your goal is to transform half of the humanity into some sort of stupid, two legged, humanoid creature, then go ahead and learn this stuff. That's what we get when we go as far as to "commodify" the link between parent and child. Unfortunately, for a few decades now, this sort of "mad religion" has been the prevailing doctrine informing social and economic policy all over the so called civilised world...

[Dankmemeslover]

Не ну дед мощно навалил, половину не понял

[swaggboymcgee]

Absolutely deranged way of thinking, those poor students

[werewasyo]

damn audio does not do this man justice. get a better microphone