Despite their dour reputation, economists frequently play with metaphor and simile, just like literary folk. One familiar example is “human capital”, as Deirdre McCloskey of the University of Illinois has pointed out. Economists have been likening knowledge, skill and stamina to physical capital, such as plant and equipment, since Adam Smith, who counted “the acquired and useful abilities” of a country’s people as one of several kinds of fixed capital, alongside “useful machines” and “profitable buildings”.
The Economist: Which countries are raising the most productive humans?
Chinese children hold flags during a rehearsal prior to the opening of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing on Sept. 3, 2018.
