refers to skills or knowledge that is useful only to a single employer or industry, whereas general human capital (such as literacy) is useful to all employers. Economists view firm-specific human capital as risky, since firm closure or industry decline leads to skills that cannot be transferred (the evidence on the quantitative importance of firm specific capital is unresolved). Human capital is central to debates about welfare, education, health care, and retirement. In 2004, "human capital" () was named the German Un-Word of the Year by a jury of linguistic scholars, who considered the term inappropriate and inhumane, as individuals would be degraded and their abilities classified according to economically relevant quantities. "Human capital" is often confused with human development. The UN suggests "Human development denotes both the process of widening people's choices and improving their well-being". The UN Human Development indices suggest that human capital is merely a means to the end of human development: "Theories of human capital formation and human resource development view human beings as means to increased income and wealth rather than as ends. These theories are concerned with human beings as inputs to increasing production". See also Industrial and organizational psychology Human resources Automation The Birth of Biopolitics Capital (economics) Capital accumulation Capitalize or expense Cross-cultural capital Human Capital Management Human development theory Mincer equation Labor power Theodore Schultz Working time Intellectual capital Intellectual capital management Structural capital Relational capital Organizational capital Talent management Notes References Géza Ankerl: L'épanouissement de l'homme dans la perspective de la politique economique. Sirey, Paris 1966. Samuel Bowles & Herbert Gintis (1975). "The Problem with Human Capital Theory – A Marxian Critique," American Economic Review, 65(2), pp. 74–82, Crook, T. R., Todd, S. Y., Combs, J. G., Woehr, D. J., & Ketchen, D. J. 2011. Does human capital matter? A meta-analysis of the relationship between human capital and firm performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(3): 443–456. Sami Mahroum (2007). Assessing human resources for science and technology: the 3Ds framework. Science and Public Policy 34 (7), 489–499. Sherwin Rosen (1987). "Human capital," The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, v. 2, pp. 681–90. Seymour W. Itzkoff (2003). Intellectual Capital in Twenty-First-Century Politics. Ashfield, MA: Paideia, Brian Keeley (2007). OECD Insights; Human Capital. External links National intangible capital NIC 2016 database / Findings and results for human capital OECD Insights: Human Capital – a primer Capital (economics) Education economics Human capital