Abstract

This article analyzes recent attempts to integrate the value of knowledge into global economic statistics. It outlines how emerging human capital accounting (HCA) standards apply concepts developed to value physical capital goods to the skills embodied in national populations, making its value dependent on lifetime labor market incomes. The intellectual legacy of neoclassical capital theory thereby frames the way in which the value of knowledge is understood in contemporary global governance in politically consequential ways. Drawing upon Karl Polanyi and recent literature on the political economy of measurement, it argues these methodologies reproduce the ‘economistic fallacy’, as they assume the exchange value of educational investment can be meaningfully isolated from its broader economic, cultural and social functions. Such metrics consequently naturalize politically contestable assumptions, reflecting comparative institutional factors rather than the substantive contribution of education to human welfare. A case study of the influence of HCA on the World Bank's Human Capital Project demonstrates how the diffusion of these valuation methods has implications for which national policy agendas are deemed ‘sustainable’, particularly within debates on the future of welfare policy. This case illustrates the wider importance of global accounting practices in constructing national economic policy space.

摘要

本文分析了最近将知识的价值纳入全球经济统计的尝试。它概述了新兴的人力资本会计 (HCA) 标准如何将为评估实物资本货物而开发的概念应用于国家人口所体现的技能，使其价值取决于终生劳动力市场收入。因此，新古典资本理论的知识遗产构成了当代全球治理中以具有政治意义的方式理解知识价值的方式。借鉴 Karl Polanyi 和最近关于衡量政治经济学的文献，它认为这些方法再现了“经济谬误”，因为它们假设教育投资的交换价值可以有意义地与其更广泛的经济、文化和社会功能隔离开来。因此，这些指标自然化了具有政治争议的假设，反映了比较制度因素，而不是教育对人类福利的实质性贡献。HCA 对世界银行人力资本项目影响的案例研究表明，这些估值方法的传播如何影响哪些国家政策议程被认为是“可持续的”，特别是在关于福利政策未来的辩论中。这个案例说明了全球会计实践在构建国家经济政策空间中的更广泛重要性。s 人力资本项目展示了这些估值方法的传播如何影响哪些国家政策议程被认为是“可持续的”，特别是在关于福利政策未来的辩论中。这个案例说明了全球会计实践在构建国家经济政策空间中的更广泛重要性。s 人力资本项目展示了这些估值方法的传播如何影响哪些国家政策议程被认为是“可持续的”，特别是在关于福利政策未来的辩论中。这个案例说明了全球会计实践在构建国家经济政策空间中的更广泛重要性。