2018年经济学人 人力资本:教育的长久回报期(1)

 

But this was just the beginning of his analysis.

但是，这仅仅是他的分析的起点。

Becker observed that people do acquire general human capital, but they often do so at their own expense, rather than that of employers.

贝克尔注意到，人们是要获取一般性人力资本，但是，他们经常是自费获取，而不是用雇主的钱。

This is true of university, when students take on debts to pay for education before entering the workforce¹.

这对于大学来说如此，对于几乎所有行业的工人来说亦是如此。

It is also true of workers in almost all industries: interns², trainees³ and junior employees share in the cost of getting them up to speed by being paid less.

前者出现在学生为支付学费而在进入劳动大军之前而背负债务时，后者体现在实习生、受训者和初级员工通过少拿工资来分担让自己迅速进入角色的费用这个方面。

Becker made the assumption that people would be hard-headed in calculating how much to invest in their own human capital.

贝克尔提出了人们在为自己的人力资本投多少钱而算计时会精打细算的假设。

They would compare expected future earnings⁴ from different career choices and consider the cost of acquiring the education to pursue these careers, including time spent in the classroom.

他们会比较不同职业选择的未来收入，并且还会考虑为追求这些职业而获取教育的成本，如用在教室中的时间。

He knew that reality was far messier, with decisions plagued by uncertainty⁵ and complicated motivations, but he described his model as an “economic way of looking at life”.

他深知，虽说现实纷繁复杂，各种决定为不确定性和种种复杂的动机所困扰。但是，他还是把自己的模型描述为一种“看待生活的经济学方式”。

His simplified assumptions about people being purposeful and rational in their decisions laid the groundwork for an elegant theory of human capital, which he expounded⁶ in several seminal⁷ articles and a book in the early 1960s.

他的这些有关人们在做决定时是有目的的、理性的的简化假设为他在上世纪60年代的多篇开创性论文和一本书中对其做出了论述的精妙的人力资本理论奠定了基础。

His theory helped explain why younger generations spent more time in schooling⁸ than older ones: longer life expectancies⁹ raised the profitability of acquiring knowledge.

他的理论为解释为什么年轻一代比前辈把更多的时间用在学习上提供帮助：不断延长的预期寿命提升了获取知识的盈利性。

It also helped explain the spread of education: advances in technology made it more profitable to have skills, which in turn raised the demand for education.

它还为解释教育的普及提供了帮助：技术进步使得拥有技能更为有利可图，这反过来又提高了对于教育的需求。

It showed that under-investment in human capital was a constant risk: young people can be short-sighted given the long payback period for education; and lenders are wary¹⁰ of supporting them because of their lack of collateral¹¹ (attributes such as knowledge always stay with the borrower, whereas a borrower's physical assets can be seized).

他的理论表明，人力资本方面的投资不足是一种恒久不变的风险：鉴于教育的长久回报期，年轻人可能是目光短浅的；同时，放债方会由于他们缺乏抵押品而对支持他们持谨慎的态度（像知识这种资本的属性总是与举债方在一起，而举债方的有形资产是可以被查封的）。

It suggested that there was no fixed¹² number of good jobs but that highly paid work would increase as economies produced more skilled graduates who generated more innovation.

他的理论表明，没有固定数量的好工作，但是，高工资工作会随着经济体生产出更多的带来了更多创新的高技能毕业生而增加。

1 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

2 interns   

n.住院实习医生( intern的名词复数 )v.拘留，关押( intern的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Our interns also greet our guests when they arrive in our studios. 我们的实习生也会在嘉宾抵达演播室的时候向他们致以问候。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• The interns work alongside experienced civil engineers and receive training in the different work sectors. 实习生陪同有经验的国内工程师工作，接受不同工作部门的相关培训。 来自超越目标英语 第4册

3 trainees   

新兵( trainee的名词复数 )； 练习生； 接受训练的人； 训练中的动物

参考例句：

• We've taken on our full complement of new trainees. 我们招收的新学员已经满额了。
• The trainees were put through an assault course. 受训人员接受了突击训练课程。

4 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

5 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

6 expounded   

论述，详细讲解( expound的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He expounded his views on the subject to me at great length. 他详细地向我阐述了他在这个问题上的观点。
• He warmed up as he expounded his views. 他在阐明自己的意见时激动起来了。

7 seminal   

adj.影响深远的；种子的

参考例句：

• The reforms have been a seminal event in the history of the NHS.这些改革已成为英国国民保健制度史上影响深远的一件大事。
• The emperor's importance as a seminal figure of history won't be diminished.做为一个开创性历史人物的重要性是不会减弱的。

8 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。

9 expectancies   

期待，期望( expectancy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Each of us came with his own expectancies. 我们每个人都有自己的希望。
• In fact, modern lifestyles are actually exacerbating the gap between male and female life expectancies. 实际上，现代生活方式确实加大了男女寿命差别的鸿沟。

10 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

11 collateral   

adj.平行的；旁系的；n.担保品

参考例句：

• Many people use personal assets as collateral for small business loans.很多人把个人财产用作小额商业贷款的抵押品。
• Most people here cannot borrow from banks because they lack collateral.由于拿不出东西作为抵押，这里大部分人无法从银行贷款。

12 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。