人力资本政策的作用--外文资料翻译.docVIP

外文资料 J Econ Inequal (2006) 4: 385–389 DOI 10.1007/s10888-006-9028-6 BOOK REVIEW Inequality in America. What role for human capital policies?, by James J. Heckman and Alan B. Krueger (eds.), MIT, 2003 Bj?rn ?ckert Published online: 27 June 2006 ? Springer Science+Business Media B. V. 2006 Income and wealth inequality in the U.S. has been growing for the last 25 years.Even though there is far from consensus in the literature, most economists probably agree that the acquisition of skills plays a major role in explaining the increasing outcome differences. In their “Inequality in America. What Role for Human Capital Policies?” Pedro Carneiro, James J. Heckman and Alan B. Krueger discuss if, and if so which, educational policies can decrease the wage gap and increase efficiency. The book is structured as a symposium, starting with one paper by Krueger and another by Carneiro Heckman. Five prominent economists then give their view of these papers and the topic at large. Finally, Krueger and Carneiro Heckman separately respond to each other’s work and the discussants’ comments. Although both the Krueger and the Carneiro Heckman papers concern educational policies, the papers differ in their point of departure as well as their conclusions. Krueger provides evidence on the increasing inequality in the U.S. over the last decades and argues that poverty and income inequality may generate negative externalities (e.g. higher crime rates and lower growth). He proposes education and training programs targeted at the disadvantaged as part of an overall strategy in order to restore a more balanced distribution of outcomes. The underlying problem, he argues, is that children from poor families behave as if they face higher discount rates when they make their education decisions, either because they have limited access to credit, or because they are impatient and have a distaste for education. A redistribution of income is, ac