Despite increasing research efforts, there is still much confusion regarding the nature and contribution of the most intangible forms of capital. This book develops a comprehensive and unifying conception of intangible capital in order to understand its role with respect to economic growth, well-being, and rationality. As the book illustrates, utilizing the intangible capital concept enables many new and important economic insights. Intangible capital is defined to include standard human capital, noncognitive human capital (including personal capital), social capital, and other intangible manifestations of human capacity. Understanding intangible capital is a key to realizing the full human potential of our economic systems.
Explaining how the main components of intangible capital contribute to economic growth, this book will be of great interest to social scientists in the fields of heterodox, behavioural and social economics, social capital, HRM, and economic and organizational change. It will also be of considerable value to government policymakers and business managers interested in the role and implications of intangible capital and intangible assets for productivity, growth and the performance of firms. Philosophers and psychologists, among others, should find the chapters dealing with intangible capital in relation to well-being and rationality of particular interest.
John F. Tomer, Emeritus Professor of Economics, Manhattan College, US
Contents: PART I: INTANGIBLE CAPITAL 1. Introduction 2. Intangible Capital: A Comprehensive and Unifying View PART II: INTANGIBLE CAPITAL, ECONOMIC GROWTH AND CHANGE 3. The Contribution of Intangible Capital to Economic Growth: An Overview 4. Understanding High Performance Work Systems: The Contribution of Organizational Capital 5. The Impact of Organizational Capital on Economic Performance: Evidence from Netherlands-based Multinational Corporations Bart Eikelenboom 6. Personal Capital and Emotional Intelligence: An Increasingly Important Intangible Source of Economic Growth 7. Intangible Factors in the Eastern European Transition: A Socio-Economic Analysis PART III: INTANGIBLE CAPITAL, HUMAN WELL-BEING AND RATIONALITY 8. Human Well-Being: A New Approach that Considers the Overall Quality of People's Lives 9. Addictions Are Not Rational: A Socio-economic Model of Addictive Behavior 10. True Preferences, Metapreferences, and Actual Preferences: A Socio-economic Model of Preference Formation 11. Beyond the Rationality of Economic Man, Toward the True Rationality of Human Man PART IV: IMPLICATIONS FOR GOVERNMENT POLICY AND THE DISCIPLINE OF ECONOMICS 12. Government Policy and Intangible Capital 13. Why We Need a Commitment Approach to Environmental Policy with Thomas R. Sadler 14. Economic Man versus Heterodox Men: The Concepts of Human Nature in Schools of Economic Thought PART V: SUMMING UP 15. Conclusion: Intangible Capital and the Human Potential of the Socio-economy Index