GARY BECKER AND THE ART OF ECONOMICS

2015 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-6
Author(s):  
Aloysius Siow
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Criminal Behavior ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Systematic Application ◽  
Gary Becker

Gary Becker, an American economist, died on May 3, 2014, at the age of 83. His major contribution was the systematic application of economics to the analysis of social issues. He used economics to study discrimination, criminal behavior, human capital, marriage, fertility and other social issues.

Human Capital Formation and Criminal Behavior: The Role of Early Childhood Education

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo Rodrigues Dos Santos
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Criminal Behavior ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Dropping Out ◽  
School Resources ◽  
Prevention Policy ◽  
Childhood Education

Abstract This paper develops an overlapping generations model of criminal behavior, which extends prior research on crime by taking into account parental decisions about their children's education and about sending them to school when they become adolescents. Additionally, it is also assumed that acquired ability in childhood and school resources interplay to determine the student's probability of leaving school before graduation. Therefore, considering that dropping out of school and criminality are endogenously determined by the quality of early childhood education, school inputs and law enforcement parameters, this paper offers a framework to study the effects of interventions in early education on criminality and human capital accumulation vis-à-vis enhancing school resources and public spending on enforcement. Numerical simulations show that stimuli to increase investments in the education of children from disadvantaged families are much more cost-effective as a crime-prevention policy than expenditures on school resources and police protection.

scholarly journals Przedsiębiorczość miejska – lokalne programy rewitalizacji instrumentami odnowy miast

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 207-254
Author(s):  
Nina Grad
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Young People ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Material Structure ◽  
Planning Model ◽  
Material Resources ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
Post Industrial ◽  
Housing Estates

Owing to widely advertized issue of renewal of urban tissue cities gain their chance for re-birth and “second youth”. These entities struggle with degradation and depopulation through, among others, re-discovering cultural, architectural and historical values alike, restructuring postrailway, post-military and post-industrial areas as well as renovation of old housing estates and other damaged building resources. Next to the degradation of the housing substance, another problem of the cities is demographic crisis. The amount of cities’ inhabitants decreases systematically, the process of ageing of society affects more and more aspects of economy and the decline in population growth as well as mass emigration of young people are not promising. Thus main tasks of cities development became tasks of qualitative revival of material resources and human capital. Considering revitalization as a cities revival tool one have to have in mind it cannot concern only the material structure of a city but has to be spread over the broadly understood social issues. Moreover, the revitalization actions have to be based on a new planning model through involving local societies into planning processes. In this way it can contribute to the integration of residents as well as to the larger identification with place of residence which may be an object of their special care in coming years. To summarise, only such integrated and complex attitude as above may bring expected results of increasing the quality of the cities and the Local Revitalisation Programmes, which are one of the requirements of revitalization programmes studies, may essentially contribute.

scholarly journals The Social Mind-set Model potentially explains varying societies’ responses to social and criminal behavior

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6S) ◽  
pp. s402-s424
Author(s):  
Monica Miller ◽  
Amber Westbrook
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Behavior ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Cultural Analysis ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Legal Situation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Mind ◽  
Mind Set

Many countries face similar social issues, but adopt dramatically different solutions. This variation could be because countries have different social mind-sets (SMS), which explain why a certain policy response is adopted. The Social Mind-set Model (“SMS Model”) is a modest addition to the frameworks of Blumer (1971) and Kingdon (2003), who explain how and when the policy process begins. The SMS Model proposes six factors that influence the SMS of a society, which in turn shapes policy processes described by Blumer and Kingdon. These include society’s: 1) high-profile events and social movements, 2) economic-political-legal situation, 3) cultural beliefs and practices, 4) use of research, 5) preference for justice principles, and 6) attributions for behavior. This cross-cultural analysis uses examples from multiple countries. We conclude with a challenge for researchers to continue this line of research, to test the model, to find more model factors and directly test the model’s assumptions.

scholarly journals MODERNIZING POLISH AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS TEACHING AND RESEARCH: AN EVALUATION OF ACADEMIC COOPERATION

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 13-21
Author(s):  
Graham Dalton ◽  
Willem Heijman ◽  
Edward Majewski
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Market Economy ◽  
Nobel Prize ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
Agricultural Economics ◽  
The Social ◽  
Gary Becker ◽  
Research Programmes ◽  
Net Benefits ◽  
Collapse Of Communism

Twenty-five years ago in response to the collapse of communism in Poland, an academic consortium was formed around two Polish Universities of Life Sciences (formerly Universities of Agriculture) for a Tempus project. The consortium has expanded from a project to revise curricula in agricultural economics within a market economy to much wider educational and research interests. The consortium’s main achievement has been in the organisation and accreditation of MBA programmes which has subsequently been augmented by a network for other educational and research programmes in a number of countries (AGRIMBA). This article explores the social net benefits of this example of investment in human capital relying on the concepts laid down by the Nobel Prize winners Theodore Schulz and Gary Becker.

scholarly journals Juvenile Incarceration, Human Capital, and Future Crime: Evidence from Randomly Assigned Judges *

2015 ◽  
Vol 130 (2) ◽  
pp. 759-803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Aizer ◽  
Joseph J. Doyle
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
High School ◽  
Human Capital ◽  
Juvenile Offenders ◽  
Criminal Behavior ◽  
High School Completion ◽  
The United States ◽  
Behavioral Disorder ◽  
Juvenile Incarceration ◽  
School Completion

Abstract Over 130,000 juveniles are detained in the United States each year with 70,000 in detention on any given day, yet little is known about whether such a penalty deters future crime or interrupts social and human capital formation in a way that increases the likelihood of later criminal behavior. This article uses the incarceration tendency of randomly assigned judges as an instrumental variable to estimate causal effects of juvenile incarceration on high school completion and adult recidivism. Estimates based on over 35,000 juvenile offenders over a 10-year period from a large urban county in the United States suggest that juvenile incarceration results in substantially lower high school completion rates and higher adult incarceration rates, including for violent crimes. In an attempt to understand the large effects, we found that incarceration for this population could be very disruptive, greatly reducing the likelihood of ever returning to school and, for those who do return, significantly increasing the likelihood of being classified as having an emotional or behavioral disorder.

scholarly journals A Human Capital Perspective On Criminal Careers

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 58 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Clark ◽  
William L. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Criminal Behavior ◽  
Choice Model ◽  
Skills Training ◽  
Criminal Careers ◽  
Criminal Career ◽  
Constitutional Rights ◽  
Monetary Benefit ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Education Decision

he existing economics literature has traditionally viewed crime as a choice-making process, where the potential criminal chooses among alternatives based upon the costs and benefits of each. Models by Becker, Rogers, Tullock, and Hellman, have generally portrayed the criminal choice equation as static and not allowed for the dynamic changes that may occur to the criminals aptitude, and income over long time horizons. This paper develops a dynamic choice model of criminal behavior over a criminal career including the acquisition process for both legal and criminal human capital. Psychic and monetary benefit and cost factors are discussed as well as the standard arguments concerning the probabilities of apprehension and convention. The model suggests that to alter the criminals choice pattern and, therefore, his education toward legal income-producing activities, the first instance of incarceration is the most crucial and that t(1) A learning multiplier exists for the criminal in both legal and illegal learning. (2) Greater segregation of prison populations by ordinal magnitude of offence could better separate criminal students from criminal mentors and further reduce criminal education. (3) Higher order legal skills training in the penal system may shift the education decision to legal educational pursuits. (4) Redefining the legal and constitutional rights afforded felons could increase the probability of repeat apprehension and reduce the incentive to repeat offenses.

scholarly journals HUMAN CAPITAL OF POLISH NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS: FROM MACROECONOMIC CONTEXT TO MICROECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS

Ekonomika ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 92 (3) ◽  
pp. 105-122
Author(s):  
Tomasz Dyczkowski
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Third Sector ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Third Sector ◽  
Commercial Environment

Abstract. The paper1 aims at emphasizing the importance of a proper recognition and disclosure of human capital in non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on the example of Poland. Although NGOs do significantly contribute to social well-being, the economic focus paid to commercial businesses and public institutions causes that a scope of civil initiatives is not recognised to a sufficient extent. It is, therefore, a role of the Third Sector to promote its activities and to inform extensively on the effects generated. The issue which requires particular attention in this respect is the human capital which propels all benevolent activities.The author analyses, firstly, the historic, economic, and legal circumstances that shaped the modern Third Sector in Poland. Subsequently, an analysis of human resources available to Polish NGOs in comparison to the situation of their German and British counterparts is conducted. The results of a study on the attractiveness of the non-governmental sector as an employer are discussed next. The paper is concluded with a presentation of methods which enable to quantify and valuate human capital in a non-commercial environment, including the ratios used to monitor the development of that capital.The results presented in the paper clearly demonstrate that it was possible due to involvement of socially sensitive people to rebuild social activities in Poland after the long period of the state’s exclusivity in defining and addressing social issues. Those people made the initial human resources of Polish NGOs as their members, governors or volunteers. Nonetheless, the development of a comprehensive legal framework stimulating co-operation between the state and NGOs, and an extensive use of European funds helped to extend the labour force of the sector by 120 000 employees. A priority for now proves to be sustaining that growth by attracting young people. The results of the author’s study on the perception of the Third Sector by students show that most of them still know NGOs from mass media only, and one third of them would not consider working for an NGO in future. On the other hand, opinions of those who already work in a non-commercial environment prove to be positive, what entitles to formulate the conclusion that a better knowledge of the ways NGOs work is vital to build their human capital. If social managers develop proper systems of measuring and reporting human capital, such as the one presented in the paper, they will gain a tool to demonstrate that human capital of their organisations is used to make social initiatives as effective and efficient as possible.Key words: non-governmental organisation (NGO), the Third Sector, human resources, human capital

Return on Investment in Training

2011 ◽  
pp. 1794-1799
Author(s):  
Tad Waddington
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Nobel Prize ◽  
Return On Investment ◽  
Gary Becker ◽  
Current Business

In 1992, the economist, Gary Becker, won the Nobel prize for his work that demonstrated the importance to organizations of human capital and of training, in particular. Despite the importance of human capital to the long-term health and growth of organizations, they continue to under-invest in training (Becker, 1993). In The Human Equation, Jeffrey Pfeffer (1998) explained why, “Training is an investment in the organization’s staff, and in the current business milieu, it virtually begs for some sort of return-on investment calculations” (p.89). In other words, because organizations do not adequately measure the value that training adds, they fail to reap the benefits of fully investing in training. This article shows you how to measure your return on investment in training.

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