A01=Pablo A. Pena
Accessibility
Aging
Author_Pablo A. Pena
Becker
behavioral
Behavioral economics
Business
capital
Career development
Category=KCA
Category=KJ
Category=KJMV2
Decision-making
development
Economic effects
Education
eq_bestseller
eq_business-finance-law
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Gary
Gary Becker
Health
household
Household labor
Human resources
intellectual
Intellectual capital
Investment
Knowledge
labor
Labor market
learning
Life choices
lifelong
Lifelong learning
Management
Market
Marriage
Microeconomics
Nobel
Nobel Prize
Parenting
Policy
Prize
Productivity
Resource allocation
resources
science
skill
Skill development
Skills
social
Social sciences
socioeconomic
Socioeconomic factors
Workforce
Product details
- ISBN 9780226841434
- Weight: 481g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 26 Aug 2025
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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An accessible introduction to the most consequential science of modern life.
University of Chicago economist Gary Becker won the Nobel Prize largely for his advancement of human capital theory—the idea that investing in a person’s knowledge and skills has a wide range of economic effects. Becker’s writing on the subject was technical, but his teaching, especially in his famous doctoral course at Chicago, remains legendary for its accessibility, brilliance, and applications to everyday life.
In Human Capital for Humans, economist and former Becker student Pablo A. Peña channels this classroom approach to produce an accessible, essential guide to understanding the science that has become synonymous with modern life and the economy. With an illustrative and immersive style, Peña unpacks the human capital approach to domains such as parenting, aging, marriage, health, and household labor. The result is not only intellectually elevated, but an essential introduction for learners and teachers of this subject across business, management, economics, policy, and beyond.
University of Chicago economist Gary Becker won the Nobel Prize largely for his advancement of human capital theory—the idea that investing in a person’s knowledge and skills has a wide range of economic effects. Becker’s writing on the subject was technical, but his teaching, especially in his famous doctoral course at Chicago, remains legendary for its accessibility, brilliance, and applications to everyday life.
In Human Capital for Humans, economist and former Becker student Pablo A. Peña channels this classroom approach to produce an accessible, essential guide to understanding the science that has become synonymous with modern life and the economy. With an illustrative and immersive style, Peña unpacks the human capital approach to domains such as parenting, aging, marriage, health, and household labor. The result is not only intellectually elevated, but an essential introduction for learners and teachers of this subject across business, management, economics, policy, and beyond.
Pablo A. Peña is assistant instructional professor in the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics at the University of Chicago. He has worked as consultant for business and non-profit organizations and is a former chief economist of Mexico’s National Banking and Securities Commission.
