Integrating Human Capital and Human Capabilities in Understanding the Value of Education

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to investigate the possibility of combining human capital theory and the capability approach in order to better understand and measure both the instrumental and the intrinsic values of education for individuals, and to trace its relative spillover effects on societies. This chapter discusses a combined human capital - capability approach as a possibility for working with a broader information space in assessing the value of education. It presents three integrated sections discussing the role and value of education for human well-being. The first section reviews the most significant attempts to define and measure education from a human capital (HC) perspective. The second is focussed on education and human capabilities and considers those aspects and empirical facts that are not fully encompassed within or justified by the HC perspective. The third section argues that human capital and the capabilities paradigms can complement each other in measuring the value of education, and discusses some methodological challenges and empirical features associated with this combined view.