Axiology of Human Capital. The Dignity of the Other

The concept of Human Capital (HC) was introduced in the seventeenth century by Petty and Smith, but the birth of its theory dates to the sixties with Schultz and Becker contributions. According to these studies HC is an important factor for the growth of the national economy. Recent developments have highlighted its contribution to social and political development and freedom. An “axiological approach”, based on “authentic” and “intersubjective” values for the evaluation of HC has conceptual and operational implications, especially in a context where it has become the subject of communicative discrimination. The fraction of the discriminated human species is assumed as a mean rather than as an end, and as a reservoir rather than as an integral and integrated part of the social system. Discussing HC in the context of migration means alluding to a normative perspective, according to which all persons, without any distinction between citizenship and sovereignty of any kind contribute to its formation and accumulation. The aim of the paper is to investigate this issue within the framework of the population of migrants, promoting the development of the concept and its axiology of value. With reference to the Jorgenson-Fraumeni approach, the study comes to an empirical estimate of the HC of migrants as a measure of the “dignity of the other”. The results showed lower HC values for the migrants than those of Italians with equivalent socio-economic characteristics, both to market and non-market activities.