By Richard Vedder and Jordan Templeton:
A few days ago, we indicated to you that we have been doing estimates of the human capital stock of the United States, the compilation of which allows us to estimate the nation's total wealth. We believe that wealth approaches $500,000 a person, or roughly $1.5 million for a family of three. In a sense, we are a nation of millionaires.
Let us elaborate a bit. We estimate that about $59.4 trillion in wealth is in the form of male human capital, and $35.5 trillion is female human capital. Our guess is that the female component has expanded sharply for three reasons in recent years. First, the female share of the labor force has been growing for decades, and parity between the genders with respect to work may well come within a few years. Second, women are becoming increasingly dominant in the college trained population that provides a large proportion of that wealth. The typical college graduate has more than triple the human capital of the typical male with less than a high school education. Third, women have had some improvement in their compensation relative to males, in part because they increasingly occupy high paying managerial and professional jobs previously largely confined to males.
We would predict that most of the increase in human capital in modern times has come amongst females. Our economic capacity is being expanded largely by utilizing more fully the talents of the nation's female population.
Of the $95 trillion in human capital, slightly over half ($48.1 trillion) comes from people with bachelor's degrees and higher, a group that constitutes a far smaller portion (roughly 30 percent) of the working population. Over one half of the remaining human capital is represented by persons who have some college. Those with only a high school education or less possess roughly 20 percent of the nation's human capital.
All of this is interesting, but it raises more questions than it answers. How much of the human capital possessed by college graduates is a result of what they learned in college? How much results from their post-graduation work experiences --learning by doing? How much represents qualities that created human capital that predates college? These are not easy things to calculate, but we are trying. How much has the human capital stock changed over time, and what proportion of that increase is related to formal learning in school, and how much to other factors? The questions are many, and we at CCAP are trying to make a first pass at answering them. Stay tuned.
Richard Vedder is Director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity (CCAP), and Jordan Templeton is a research assistant there and an undergraduate student at Ohio University.
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4 comments:
By Larry Kudlow
Let me be very clear on the economics of President Obama’s State of the Union speech and his budget.
He is declaring war on investors, entrepreneurs, small businesses, large corporations, and private-equity and venture-capital funds.
That is the meaning of his anti-growth tax-hike proposals, which make absolutely no sense at all — either for this recession or from the standpoint of expanding our economy’s long-run potential to grow.
Raising the marginal tax rate on successful earners, capital, dividends, and all the private funds is a function of Obama’s left-wing social vision, and a repudiation of his economic-recovery statements. Ditto for his sweeping government-planning-and-spending program, which will wind up raising federal outlays as a share of GDP to at least 30 percent, if not more, over the next 10 years.
This is nearly double the government-spending low-point reached during the late 1990s by the Gingrich Congress and the Clinton administration. While not quite as high as spending levels in Western Europe, we regrettably will be gaining on this statist-planning approach.
Study after study over the past several decades has shown how countries that spend more produce less, while nations that tax less produce more. Obama is doing it wrong on both counts.
And as far as middle-class tax cuts are concerned, Obama’s cap-and-trade program will be a huge across-the-board tax increase on blue-collar workers, including unionized workers. Industrial production is plunging, but new carbon taxes will prevent production from ever recovering. While the country wants more fuel and power, cap-and-trade will deliver less.
The tax hikes will generate lower growth and fewer revenues. Yes, the economy will recover. But Obama’s rosy scenario of 4 percent recovery growth in the out years of his budget is not likely to occur. The combination of easy money from the Fed and below-potential economic growth is a prescription for stagflation. That’s one of the messages of the falling stock market.
Essentially, the Obama economic policies represent a major Democratic party relapse into Great Society social spending and taxing. It is a return to the LBJ/Nixon era, and a move away from the Reagan/Clinton period. House Republicans, fortunately, are 90 days sober, as they are putting up a valiant fight to stop the big-government onslaught and move the GOP back to first principles.
Noteworthy up here on Wall Street, a great many Obama supporters — especially hedge-fund types who voted for “change” — are becoming disillusioned with the performances of Obama and Treasury man Geithner.
There is a growing sense of buyer’s remorse.
Well then, do conservatives dare say: We told you so?
Barack al Obama is an idiot.
In Barack Obama, I have never seen a person so ineptly and incompetently over their head.
This guy and his left wing co-conspirators are ruining our country and will continue to do so. It's so unbelievable that this loser was voted into office. What a complete MORON! God help us.
Wow!!!!!! What planet do you live on? President Obama happens to be a gift to our society. It is not about Democrats or Republicans, it is about one nation under God. It is for the people, by the people. This is the first president we have had that keeps us up to date on everything he is doing. If he didn't you wouldn't be complaining right now. Lets talk about the Bush Administration.......then again lets not!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have my Bachelors degree, it got me no where........it is keeping me unemployed. Companies are trying to save all the money they can and hoard it away to have big salaries for the CEO's and lavish parties. Companies now hire people without a degree so they can pay them less. Thanks to this wonderful economic disaster that the Bush administration got us into. Oh yeah, he was just a puppet...all the wonderful "rich" rebublicans made the decisions for the country. Bush just sat on his 14k gold toilet seat and had his bum washed by his toilet bum washer. He didn't have a clue as to what was going on with this nation. That is why we are in the financial crisis we are in today. President Obama is just trying to fix the financial disaster that the Bush administration has gotten us into. IT IS SO NOT REBULICANS OR DEMOCRATS. IT IS WE THE PEOPLE.
The only planet known to be hospitable to life is earth. So your question is idiotic.
"President Obama happens to be a gift to our society." A gift? Ha! Right, the kind of gift that I would return or throw in the trash.
"It is not about Democrats or Republicans, it is about one nation under God. It is for the people, by the people." Among the multitude of things I could say about this platitude, I'll just say: You are living in Fantasy Land.
"I have my Bachelors degree, it got me no where........it is keeping me unemployed." (sic) This is playing the victim. You are blaming your situation on your Bachelor's Degree? Did you think you were entitled to a job? In the real world, a degree is not a ticket to entitlement employment. You choose to be unemployed - it's not your degree not getting you a job, it's you. (Your grammar isn’t helping you either)
In these times when Barack al Obama is spending more money in days and weeks than at any other time in history, why is it that this "gift to society" ("The One") has not provided you a job? Because he is an idiot and it's your job to find work - not his. You need to get off your ass and go get a job at McDonald's or Wal-Mart if that is what it is going to take. But if that is beneath you, get used to unemployment and playing the victim (of your own lack of motivation and responsibility).
I might also ask, have you been trying to get a job where "Companies are trying to save all the money they can and hoard it away to have big salaries for the CEO's and lavish parties"?
You say, "Lets talk about the Bush Administration.......then again lets not!!!!!!!!!!!! (sic)
And then you go on to say, "Thanks to this wonderful economic disaster that the Bush administration got us into. Oh yeah, he was just a puppet...all the wonderful "rich" rebublicans (sic) made the decisions for the country. Bush just sat on his 14k gold toilet seat and had his bum washed by his toilet bum washer. He didn't have a clue as to what was going on with this nation. That is why we are in the financial crisis we are in today. President Obama is just trying to fix the financial disaster that the Bush administration has gotten us into."
But wait a minute, you prefaced your rant with "It is not about Democrats or Republicans, it is about one nation under God. It is for the people, by the people. Hmmm...
And then you ended your rant with, "IT IS SO NOT REBULICANS OR DEMOCRATS. IT IS WE THE PEOPLE." (sic) It's no wonder you are unemployed.
"This is the first president we have had that keeps us up to date on everything he is doing." I know, he doesn't realize the campaign is over because he is an idiot. I'm sick of seeing him and hearing him.
In other news regarding “Bipartisanship”, we have the following:
What happened to Obama's desire for bipartisanship?
You've heard the speeches...before, during, and after the election, Obama claimed to want to have "bipartisan" support in his administration. The first clue that it wouldn't last was in Obama's inauguration speech when he suggested that Repubicans put aside "petty grievances" for the next four years. What petty grievances you ask? Well that would be questions about Obama's associations, lack of experience, and oh yes, citizenship...none of which were ever addressed or pursued by left-wing media ideologues.
In case there was any doubt, on Thursday, January 22, 2009, the desire for bipartisanship officially ended (in case it wasn't officially the case before this). This has been determined because someone who is supposed to be smart with a Harvard education ("what other qualifications are needed?" said America on election day), did something not-so-smart in the form of following the lead of Nancy Pelosi. On that fateful day, just TWO days after the inauguration, Ms. Nancy said something typical, aka arrogant and stupid...when asked about GOP resistance to the stimulus bill, which she had done all in her power to keep Republicans out of the planning process, she merely replied, "Yes, we wrote the bill. Yes, we won the election." Apparently, in “Nancyland”, Republicans are the serfs in the New Dark Ages (no racial pun intended), and they are to sign off on anything “demoncrats” desire lest be flogged and tortured (since if she had her way, Republicans would not protected by the Geneva Convention). This was typical Nancy, puffing her chest out, much like a Redskins fan who starts talking about going to the Super Bowl after winning two pre-season games in a row.
But Barry shouldn't have bitten from that apple...but he did. Later THAT SAME DAY(!) while sitting in a press conference with, yes, Puppet-master Pelosi by his side, sent an arrogant message to the Republicans during the deliberations, when some objections arose regarding some of his ideas in the stimulus plan, to which he stated matter-of-factly, "I won."
So apparently, as many other leaders before him, Barry is already starting to suffer from delusions of grandeur, as he apparently believes that so long as he puts forth his ideas, no matter how left, crazy, unwise, or all the above, those who voted for him will back him 100%...oh how quickly they rise and fall, eh? Based on his popularity, the free fall after the media honeymoon is over should be historic.
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