littleboxes
Backfield in Motion
This is interesting...no really, it is. IBM is offering to give employees money to become math and science teachers.
You see, firms often want to become more productive so that they can make more money. A firm can become more productive because it acquires more capital or different, more efficient capital. A firm can also become more productive if it acquires more knowledgable and effective employees. This is often called improving human capital.
Firms often invest in capital to make themselves more productive. Firms have a more difficult time investing in human capital. An example of an investment in human capital is education. But firms dont' really want to invest in education because they don't get to capture all of the benefits. Let's say Microsoft opens up a school and pays to educate everyone, they may derive minimal benefits from this as none of the students may eventually choose to work for Microsoft. Another classic example is a company training its workers so that they learn new skills. These employees could then take these new skills with them when they leave the company (maybe even before they even use them for the employer that paid for them).
Because of the relative ease of capital investment and the relative difficulty of human capital investment, we (the United States) have a chronic under investment in human capital. We're not producing enough highly educated people who can perform in the workplace at a high level.
Galbraith talks about his in his classic "The Affluent Society."
IBM is making an investment!
The goal is to help fill shortfalls in the nation's teaching ranks, a problem expected to grow with the retirement of today's educators.
Math and science are of particular concern to companies in many U.S. industries that expect to need technical workers but see low test scores in those subjects and waning interest in science careers.
"Over a quarter-million math and science teachers are needed, and it's hard to tell where the pipeline is," said Stanley Litow, head of the IBM Foundation, the Armonk, N.Y.-based company's community service wing. "That is like a ticking time bomb not just for technology companies, but for business and the U.S. economy."
While many companies encourage their employees to tutor schoolchildren or do other things to get involved in education, IBM believes it is the first to guide workers toward switching into a teaching career.
Meanwhile...President Bush promises to cut spending to pay for the New Orleans recovery effort. That is, he does not want to raise taxes so that we can keep spending the same and yet also finance the recovery effort.
"You bet it will cost money, but I'm confident we can handle it," he said.
Bush spoke after his advisers warned that Hurricane Katrina relief and reconstruction costs will swell the national debt by $200 billion or beyond. "It's going to cost whatever it costs," he said. "We're going to be wise about the money we spend."
This comment comes from the philosophy that we already invest enough money in public works. That is, we are wasting money, it has a higher return elsewhere, let's cut government spending.
But what if we aren't investing enough in human capital? Furthermore, Bush focuses on output, asserting that we must keep output at high levels by keeping taxes low.
"I means we're going to have to make sure we cut unnecessary spending. It's going to mean that we maintain economic growth and we should not raise taxes," he said.
The output he's talking about comes from the private sector which overwhelmingly produces goods that do not lead to the accumulation of human capital.
If Mr. Bush takes his pledge to remedy inequality seriously, he should help improve the education of the children of New Orleans.
Some might argue that education spending might increase if output increases and more tax revenue is collected from this increased output. But the most effective way of increasing the lack of human capital would be to cut private investment and increase public invest. The return is obviously higher for public investment.
You see, firms often want to become more productive so that they can make more money. A firm can become more productive because it acquires more capital or different, more efficient capital. A firm can also become more productive if it acquires more knowledgable and effective employees. This is often called improving human capital.
Firms often invest in capital to make themselves more productive. Firms have a more difficult time investing in human capital. An example of an investment in human capital is education. But firms dont' really want to invest in education because they don't get to capture all of the benefits. Let's say Microsoft opens up a school and pays to educate everyone, they may derive minimal benefits from this as none of the students may eventually choose to work for Microsoft. Another classic example is a company training its workers so that they learn new skills. These employees could then take these new skills with them when they leave the company (maybe even before they even use them for the employer that paid for them).
Because of the relative ease of capital investment and the relative difficulty of human capital investment, we (the United States) have a chronic under investment in human capital. We're not producing enough highly educated people who can perform in the workplace at a high level.
Galbraith talks about his in his classic "The Affluent Society."
IBM is making an investment!
The goal is to help fill shortfalls in the nation's teaching ranks, a problem expected to grow with the retirement of today's educators.
Math and science are of particular concern to companies in many U.S. industries that expect to need technical workers but see low test scores in those subjects and waning interest in science careers.
"Over a quarter-million math and science teachers are needed, and it's hard to tell where the pipeline is," said Stanley Litow, head of the IBM Foundation, the Armonk, N.Y.-based company's community service wing. "That is like a ticking time bomb not just for technology companies, but for business and the U.S. economy."
While many companies encourage their employees to tutor schoolchildren or do other things to get involved in education, IBM believes it is the first to guide workers toward switching into a teaching career.
Meanwhile...President Bush promises to cut spending to pay for the New Orleans recovery effort. That is, he does not want to raise taxes so that we can keep spending the same and yet also finance the recovery effort.
"You bet it will cost money, but I'm confident we can handle it," he said.
Bush spoke after his advisers warned that Hurricane Katrina relief and reconstruction costs will swell the national debt by $200 billion or beyond. "It's going to cost whatever it costs," he said. "We're going to be wise about the money we spend."
This comment comes from the philosophy that we already invest enough money in public works. That is, we are wasting money, it has a higher return elsewhere, let's cut government spending.
But what if we aren't investing enough in human capital? Furthermore, Bush focuses on output, asserting that we must keep output at high levels by keeping taxes low.
"I means we're going to have to make sure we cut unnecessary spending. It's going to mean that we maintain economic growth and we should not raise taxes," he said.
The output he's talking about comes from the private sector which overwhelmingly produces goods that do not lead to the accumulation of human capital.
If Mr. Bush takes his pledge to remedy inequality seriously, he should help improve the education of the children of New Orleans.
Some might argue that education spending might increase if output increases and more tax revenue is collected from this increased output. But the most effective way of increasing the lack of human capital would be to cut private investment and increase public invest. The return is obviously higher for public investment.
posted by littleboxes at 3:52 PM
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