Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Big Bills Are Still There: What Stands Between Credentials And Calling?, Paul R. Koch

Scholar Week 2016 - present

In 1996, the late Mancur Olson, of the University of Maryland, wrote an article in the Journal of Economic Perspectives entitled "Big Bills Left on the Sidewalk." The title refers to an old joke among economists about whether or not market processes of voluntary exchange exhaust all possibilities for mutually beneficial trades. Olson went on to draw a distinction between marketable human capital, where the development of skills and habits normally increases money income in a direct manner, and public good human capital, where income is affected indirectly through the effect on public policies and institutions. Consistent with the traditional …