Methodological approaches and problems of measuring human capital

Measuring human capital is necessary for a variety of economic purposes - for education policy, economic growth accounting and productivity analysis, national wealth accounting, satellite accounts, sustainability assessment, and measuring well-being and social progress. The current diversity of approaches to the measurement of human capital makes it difficult to process the results of the indicators both domestically and internationally. Exploring and systematizing methodological approaches to the measurement of human capital was the goal of this paper. Until recently, monetary measures of human capital based on the lifetime income approach have mainly been used to account for national wealth, to identify drivers of human capital evolution, and to address issues related to well-being and quality of life. Attempts have also been made to use estimates based on the lifetime income approach to qualitatively adjust results so that an outcome-based estimate of the size of the education sector can be derived, allowing a measure of productivity to be established based on independently estimated costs and outcomes. The article attempts to systematize a number of methodological approaches to the measurement of human capital, including for the purposes of international comparisons.