EDHEC-Risk Institute: How to gauge the most valuable and most mysterious asset, human capital

Human capital is the most valuable asset of an individual but it is still neglected and ill-understood despite having been studied since the early 70’s. “Human capital, that colossal collection of assets, is also the most mysterious: illiquid, trading in no market, unverifiable in value, yet surely it has an immense influence on all investment decisions and the macro economy”⁽¹⁾. For example, in the United States, human capital represents an overwhelming majority (nearly 90%) of the assets