Measuring human capital – a scientific utopia?

The need for quantifying human capital emerged naturally with its use in economic research, but so did problems of measurement. The objective of this article is to analyse the most common difficulties in quantifying and defining human capital. This paper will offer a qualitative survey of the literature in order to understand the depth and range of the measurement difficulties. Although there is no simple answer to the question posited in this paper's title, human capital must be re-evaluated with a more pluralistic view, incorporating refined measures from psychology and sociology.human capital theory; human capital measurement; education; quantification; abilities; pluralism; literature review.