Liberating Human Capital: The Search for the New Wave of Liquidity

Abstract

For most of our history, human capital was viewed as nothing more than a factor input in our analysis of economic development. It was judged to be no different from other factor inputs, such as land. This view of our world has now changed and many have come to recognize that it is in fact human capital that makes up most of a company's market value. In response, most companies have created departments that focus on nurturing and developing this highly valuable, yet intangible, asset. The technological revolution, with its focus on intellectual capital has further helped our understanding and has shifted the power base from buyers of human capital to its providers. In this paper, we look at how this shift will change the dynamics of the employment market and impact the development of the global economy.