Firm Specific Human Capital Investment in an Agency Relationship

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony M. Marino
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Human Capital Investment ◽  
Agency Relationship ◽  
Specific Human Capital

Promotion Signaling and Human Capital Investments

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Waldman ◽  
Ori Zax
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Investment Decisions ◽  
Human Capital Investment ◽  
Capital Investments ◽  
Human Capital Investments ◽  
Asymmetric Learning ◽  
Specific Human Capital ◽  
Investment Choices

In a world characterized by asymmetric learning, promotions can serve as signals of worker ability, and this, in turn, can result in inefficient promotion decisions. If the labor market is competitive, the result will be practices that reduce this distortion. We explore how this logic affects human capital investment decisions. We show that, if commitment is possible, investments will be biased toward the accumulation of firm-specific human capital. We also consider what happens when commitment is not possible and show a number of results including that, if investment choices are not publicly observable, choices are frequently efficient. (JEL D82, J24, J31, M12, M51)

scholarly journals Human Capital Investment Effects On Firm Returns

2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marvin L. Bouillon ◽  
B. Michael Doran ◽  
Peter F. Orazem
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Human Capital Investment ◽  
Market Value ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Common Stock ◽  
Net Income ◽  
Firm Investment ◽  
Book Value ◽  
Specific Human Capital

This paper demonstrates that two measures of firm investment in specific human capital are significantly and positively correlated with long-term rates of return on investment. The final sample of 260 firms is a subset of the 805 firms included in the June 1984 edition of Forbes survey of executive compensation. We utilize two proxies for firm return-net income and cash flow. The return measures are scaled by both book value of total assets and market value of common stock yielding four alternative specifications of the rate of return measure. The firm investment in specific human capital measures are generally found to be significant explanatory variables in the regressions that have returns scaled by book value of assets. These measures of investment are insignificant when market value of common stock outstanding is used to scale the return measures. We interpret these findings to imply that a public or regulatory policy needs to be established to require firms to include at least some basic rudimentary information regarding their human capital investment, such as turnover rates and training cots, in their annual reports.

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