Research on the Property Rights of Enterprise Human Capital

Author: Gai Xiaomin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-09-07
Features: This book, excluding the introduction, consists of five chapters, with the main content as follows: The introduction proposes the research topic of this book and its theoretical and practical significance, reviews the current state of research on human capital theory, and introduces the research methods, structural arrangement, and main innovations of this book.
Chapter 1, The Concept of Human Capital. Based on an examination of the historical development of the concept of human capital, this chapter provides an in-depth analysis of its essence, explores the prerequisites and historical process of transforming labor into human capital, and summarizes the characteristics of human capital.
Chapter 2, Analysis of Human Capital Property Rights. After examining the meaning of human capital property rights, this chapter analyzes their nature and characteristics. Similar to general property rights, human capital property rights also possess fundamental attributes such as exclusivity, limitedness, tradability, and divisibility. However, human capital property rights have many unique features distinct from general property rights, such as the inherent inseparability of human capital from its carrier, the uncertainty of the use of human capital, and the difficulties in allocating the returns of human capital property rights. These characteristics determine the necessity and complexity of incentivizing human capital owners and realizing human capital property rights. This chapter also briefly examines the conditions for realizing human capital property rights.
Chapter 3, Human Capital and Corporate Ownership Arrangements. This chapter first introduces the theoretical disagreements regarding corporate ownership arrangements, points out the theoretical flaws of proponents of the unitary theory of corporate ownership, and examines the actual determinants of corporate ownership. Then, using transaction cost analysis, it compares the cost efficiency of different types of corporate ownership arrangements, arguing that different forms of corporate organization have different advantages and can relatively well address certain types of transaction costs. Under certain conditions, allowing human capital owners to hold corporate ownership can be an efficient form of corporate organization. The chapter also examines the historical evolution of corporate ownership arrangements and the changing role of human capital in them.
Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 study the equity-based realization of human capital property rights. Chapter 4 first explores various forms of realizing human capital's share in corporate ownership, including the sharing of residual claims, equity shares, and control rights. It then draws on the experience of employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) abroad and, through game theory analysis, examines the conditions for the effective implementation of ESOPs. Building on this, it examines China's ESOP system and proposes reforms to shift from employee stock ownership to human capital stock ownership. Due to the of entrepreneurial human capital, Chapter 5 focuses specifically on it and offers policy recommendations for the implementation of stock options and management buyouts (MBOs) in China.