1960年代初期, 经济学家舒尔茨(Theodore Schultz)提出了一个重要概念：人力资本。他说, “学校教育是最大的人力资本投资。这一命题的含义是, 人们拥有的经济能力绝大部分并不是与生俱来, 也不是进入校门的时候就已经具备。这些后天获得的能力可以是任何一种, 但非同小可。其能量之大, 可在根本上改变储蓄和资本形成的数量。(Schultz, 1963)”舒尔茨的人力资本理论把教育的经济功能提到了空前的高度。北京翻译公司

In early 1960s, Theodore Schultz, an economist, has proposed an important idea: human capital. He said that “Schooling is the largest human capital investment. Meaning of this subject is that economic abilities of people are generally not inherent, and are not formed before they enter a school. These abilities acquired can be of any type, but they are remarkable. Such great abilities can change quantity of savings and capital formations.” (Schultz, 1963) His human capital theory has lifted the economic function of savings to an unprecedentedly height.

人力资本理论的核心元素是：教育通过传授知识技能, 使得受教育者获得认知和非认知能力, 这些能力能够产生较大的用于社会生产和服务的能力, 使接受较高教育程度的人在劳动力市场中的贡献更大, 从而使得他们获得较高的收入。

Core elements of human capital theory are: education gives educated person cognitive skills and non-cognitive skills through knowledge and skill impartation; such abilities can produce huge capabilities to serve social production and service, and it enables people who have received higher education to make more contributions to the labor market; and thus it enables them to get higher earnings.

然而1970年代, 劳动力市场的其他理论对人力资本理论提出了质疑, 并从其他角度提出了不同的解释。这主要可分为两类：第一类理论以筛选假设为代表。这类理论认为, 人的能力是早年或早期开发的。学校教育只不过使得这些能力合法化, 并提供了一种便利的方式把不同能力者从人群中鉴别出来。除此之外, 再无其他。每个人劳动生产率的差别很大程度上来自于早期能力上的差别, 而这些能力不是在学校或者通过培训学习得到的(Groot & Hartog, 1995)。上海翻译公司

However, in 1970s, other theories in labor market have challenged human capital theory, and they have proposed different interpretations from other aspects, mainly including 2 groups, of which one is represented by screening hypothesis, which indicates that human ability is developed in early ages or stages; and schooling just makes such abilities legal, and provides a favorable method to identify people with different abilities. In addition, no functions exist. Difference of productivity of every person depends on their abilities in early stage; while such abilities are not acquired in schools or through school training and study (Groot & Hartog, 1995).