Background
Theodore Schultz was born on April 30, 1902 in Arlington, South Dakota, United States; the son of Henry and Anna Schultz.
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53715, United States
Theodore Schultz earned his Doctor of Philosophy in 1930 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Theodore's studies of the role of "human capital" in economic development won him a share with Sir Arthur Lewis of the 1979 Nobel Prize for Economics.
1451 Stadium Rd, Brookings, SD 57007, United States
Theodore graduated from South Dakota State College (now South Dakota State University) in 1927.
(The Economics of Being Poor is mainly devoted to the econ...)
The Economics of Being Poor is mainly devoted to the economics of acquiring skills and knowledge, to investment in the quality of the population and to the increasing economic importance of human capital - the quality of the work force embodied in the health, education and skills, including the entrepreneurial skills, of the workers themselves. The volume is divided into three parts: "Most People are Poor", "Investing in Skills and Knowledge" and "Effects of Human Capital."
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1557863202/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i4
1979
(This volume is mainly devoted to investments in specializ...)
This volume is mainly devoted to investments in specialized forms of capital, consisting in large part of human capital that produces increasing rates. The tensions between politics and economics are critically examined.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1557863199/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i3
1993
Theodore Schultz was born on April 30, 1902 in Arlington, South Dakota, United States; the son of Henry and Anna Schultz.
Education was important to Schultz, who did not attend high school. His father decided to pull him out of attending Kingsbury County Schoolhouse when he was in the eighth grade. Theodore helped with the family farm during World War I, as labor was in short supply when many of the nation's young men entered the service. Despite his lack of high school instruction, Schultz was able to attend college later. He graduated from South Dakota State College (now South Dakota State University) in 1927 and earned his Doctor of Philosophy in 1930 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
It's also worth noting, that Schultz received eight honorary degrees in his career.
In 1930 Schultz joined the faculty at Iowa State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (now Iowa State University of Science and Technology) as an assistant professor and became a full professor of agricultural economics by 1935. He also headed the department of economics and sociology until 1943, when he left due to concerns about censorship.
It was during World War II that scholars at the college teamed with independent researchers to issue a report that said margarine, not butter, should be used as an economic measure during the war. In a bow to Iowa's dairy industry, the college administration recalled the report. Dr. Schultz and several others resigned in protest. The departures prompted the school to begin considering independent research. Schultz then began teaching at the University of Chicago and became chair of its economics department in 1946, the post he held till 1961. In 1952 he earned the school's title of Charles L. Hutchinson Distinguished Service Professor of Economics; he retired as a professor emeritus in the early 1970s and continued his research until a hip injury limited his mobility.
During his career, Theodore also worked as an agricultural consultant to underdeveloped nations and visited many low-income countries and their rural communities and farms. Among his many books, which he wrote and/or edited, are Redirecting Farm Policy, The Economic Value of Education, Investment in Human Capital: The Role of Education and of Research, Human Resources/Human Capital: Policy Issues and Research Opportunities, Food for the World, Economic Test in Latin America, Economics of the Family: Marriage. Children, and Human Capital, Investing in People - The Economics of Population Quality, Restoring Economic Equilibrium: Human Capital in the Modernizing Economy, The Economics of Being Poor, and Origins of Increasing Returns.
(The Economics of Being Poor is mainly devoted to the econ...)
1979(This volume is mainly devoted to investments in specializ...)
1993Theodore William Schultz led research into why post-World War II Germany and Japan recovered, at miraculous speeds, from the devastation. His conclusion was that the speed of recovery was due to a healthy and highly educated population; education makes people productive and good health care keeps the education investment around and able to produce.
One of his main contributions was later called Human Capital Theory. There he states that knowledge and skill are a form of capital, and investments in human capital lead to an increase in both economic output and workers' earnings. Schultz also argues that his theory does not dismiss humanity but instead encourages individuals to invest in themselves. He advocates for humans to invest in their health, internal migration, and on-the-job training. However, he focuses on encouraging individuals to better their education in order to increase their level of productivity. He states that if people were to do these things, they would have many more opportunities available for them to better their economic situations.
Quotations:
"The dominant social thought shapes the institutionalized order of society... and the malfunctioning of established institutions in turn alters social thought."
"The adverse economic events following the First World War turned me toward economics... I learned during my youth how hard it was for farm families to stay solvent. Farm product prices fell abruptly by more than half. Banks went bankrupt and many farmers suffered foreclosures. Was politics or economics to blame? I opted for economics."
"Investment in human capital accounts for most of the impressive rise in the real earnings per worker."
"Human beings are incontestably capital from an abstract and mathematical point of view."
"There are comparatively few significant inefficiencies in the allocation of the factors of production in traditional agriculture."
"Most people in the world are poor. If we knew the economy of being poor, we would know much of the economics that really matter. Most of the world's poor people earn their living in agriculture. If we knew the economics of agriculture, we would know much of the economic of being poor."
"Cultural and behavioral scholars are uneasy about this use of their studies. Fortunately, the intellectual tide has begun to turn. Increasing numbers of economists have come to realize that standard economic theory is just as applicable to the scarcity problems that confront low income countries as to the corresponding problems of high income countries."
Physical Characteristics: Theodore William Schultz died of pneumonia.
Quotes from others about the person
James Heckman: "He's a transitional figure who bridged the gap between the old-style study of institutions and modern economics."
E. C. Pasour, Jr.: "Schultz's domestic agricultural policy views, especially early on, were highly interventionist. In his work on domestic agricultural policy during WWII, Schultz was quite critical of the decentralized price system and envisaged a large role for government in U.S. agriculture. Moreover, government intervention continued to play a key role in his approach to domestic farm policy following the war. But Schultz's views shifted notably in the classical liberal direction in his economic development work, which emphasized distortions by government programs affecting farmers in low-income countries."
In 1930 Schultz married Esther Florence Werth. The couple had two daughters and one son.