The Economization of Early Life: Human Capital Theory Meets Genetics

Zachary Griffen, University of California, Los Angeles

Since the concept first gained salience among economists in the mid-twentieth century, ‘human capital’ has most commonly been described as the economic product of ‘investments’ individuals make in themselves. These ‘investments’ are traditionally conceived of as educational in nature: in the 1960s, for example, Walter Heller of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers posited that individuals contributed to national economic growth by pursuing additional years of higher education. More recently however, research in fields such as epigenetics and neuroscience has prompted claims that interventions made early in life—preferably before children reach age 5—produce greater returns in human capital. This is the central argument of the “Heckman Equation,” a project organized around the work of economist and Nobel laureate James Heckman. Drawing on archival sources and interviews with key experts, this paper examines the historical shift in the relationship between human capital theory and social policy-making in the U.S. Whereas earlier iterations of human capital theory derived economic value primarily from the educational attainment of mature adults, in recent years the emphasis has increasingly been placed on health and development in early childhood—with some economists focusing even on in utero ‘investments’ by pregnant individuals to promote future economic growth. The considerable influence wielded by economists in U.S. social policy has made these forms of valuation more than academic exercises, with new forms of biopolitics emerging to promote ‘early childhood investment’ not just as strategies for improving individual life outcomes, but for achieving broader economic growth as well.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 127. Expertise at the Intersection of Biology and Social Science