HUMAN CAPITAL THEORY – ONE WAY OF EXPLAINING HIGHER EDUCATION MASSIFICATION

Abstract

The spectacular increases in schooling figures in the first two decades after the Romanian Revolution of 1989 are often discussed from the perspective of ”massification” of higher education. Causal explanations of the expansion of tertiary education as a social phenomenon have been advanced by academics belonging to different schools of thought. In this paper, I will refer to the explanations of the school of human capital, whose main exponent is Gary Becker and how the explanation is built around human capital and technology, two factors that augmentate each other from Becker's perspective. Because investments in education generate skills, and skills generate technological progress, then this progress creates a demand for specialized labor and increases the earnings of those who invest in their education. Therefore, increased earnings are strong incentives to invest in education.