Intangible Capital, Chronic Ailments, and Other Persistent Socioeconomic Problems

Abstract

When mentioning the sources of an economy’s productivity, economists typically list tangible capital and human capital. But economists do not usually mention the more intangible forms of human capital. Generally, economists have been very slow to grasp the significance of the intangibles. It should be noted that in this chapter the term intangible capital is an umbrella term used to denote all the human capacities embodied either in individuals or in human relationships. These individual capacities may be cognitive or noncognitive, and the relationships may be in organizations or outside organizations. This chapter focuses on the more intangible of these capacities, the ones that have tended to be neglected by economists.