A Study On Human Capital Measurement And International Measurement Experiences

With the development of human capital theory, the importance of human capital measurement is widely recognized. Many national institutions and academics are trying to use all kinds of methods to make national or regional measurements of human capitals. After many years of development, human capital measurements mainly focused on three dimensions:cost, returns and education indicators are constantly enriched and improved. Researchers will modify methods according to the actual situations and data availability. And they have already accumulated a lot of theoretical and practical experience in this field. But all the methods lack of a unified framework and summary, which makes it very hard to understand the overall development, research progress and breakthroughs in theory and practice of human capital measurement. In the study process, many scholars tend to select only one method for in-depth research, and overlook many other methods and the links between them. Few researchers trying to make a clear research to existing methods, achievements and the application status of the measurement system may be among the reasons.Based on this background, this thesis attempts to describe some issues in human capital measurement field, such as the theoretical system, research methods, and initiatives in different countries and related application status in details.This thesis is divided into six chapters. Main ideas of each chapter are arranged as follows:The first chapter is an introduction. Firstly, this chapter introduces the research background and significance, and then it’s the structural arrangement. Finally, briefly introduce the innovations and the disadvantages of this thesis.The second chapter describes the development of the concepts of human capital and evolution of human capital theory in details. Firstly, the development process of human capital theory is divided into 3 periods. Then introduce theories of representative scholars in each period. Finally analyze the advantages and disadvantages of each theory carefully.The third chapter gives a system analysis of current human capital measurement methods, and review them combined with actual application status. Find out the advantages, disadvantages and application problems of each kind. That can make it more convenient for scholars to make a comprehensive understanding of each method and choose the most suitable one in the practical research to guarantee research feasibility and reliability.The fourth chapter explores application status of human capital measurement theory. How to put theory into practice? This problem is the fundamental issue in the development of the theory. It determines the scope of definition of human capital, and will further affect the choice of measurement method. And improvements of measurement methods are also based on application status. So to study the further development of measurement theory and method, it is essential to have a clear and complete understanding of its application.The fifth chapter introduces outstanding achievements of human capital measurement in several countries or organizations, which have already made huge contributions, such as Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and the OECD. By analyzing their measurement methods, we can see that almost all of them choose J-F lifetime income method to measure the country’s human capital. So this thesis analyses the problems when applying the J-F lifetime to China. Then suggestions are given.The sixth chapter is the conclusion and future research prospects.The innovations of this thesis:Firstly, summarize the concept of human capital and divide the development of human capital theory into the bud period, modern period and contemporary period, making the whole development process more clear and logical. Secondly, introduce the measurement methods by a new classification mode with a more in-depth and detailed classification system, which is a breakthrough when compared with that of the traditional domestic scholars. Thirdly, introduce international initiatives in human capital measurement. Point out problems faced with China according to its reality and then give advices. Now few scholars in China have tried to make such summaries. Finally, this thesis makes a detailed study of the application status of human capital measurement, and predicts possible future applications, which is also rare in current research.The disadvantages of this thesis:when introduce human capital theory, there are still many excellent research results not included. Due to limited time and energy, indicator-based methods are not introduced comprehensive enough, which may cause corresponding omissions. Many countries and organizations also have many excellent practice experiences in human capital measure aspect. This thesis selects only four of them, and achievements of other countries remain to be further explored. In the future, the results of human capital measurement will be applied in a wider scope; those listed in this article may represent only a few of the key directions of future applications.