Theory of Human Capital Lectures in Development Economics

The purpose of this new Series is to create useful knowledge about development economics and to disseminate it widely. It is not possible to prescribe exactly the topics that will be discussed in this Series. Indeed, it would not even be desirable to do so because this subject is still developing. The mystery of the development process is not yet fully understood. The days of chivalry, when economic development was seen as simply a function of physical capital formation, are gone. The importance of such factors as human capital, education and religion as determinants of both the rate and the composition of economic growth is now gradually recognized. And then there are the efforts to understand more clearly the relationship between economic growth and income distribution. In this connection, the vital role of structural reform is also being realized. The practical (social and political) requirement of alleviating the incidence of absolute poverty has brought to the fore the key role of agricultural development. Furthermore, there is now a greater awareness of the importance of endogenizing the demographic variables in order to understand fully the problem of underdevelopment as well as the many ways of solving it.