The School of Economics is pleased to welcome Pablo A. Peña, associate instructional professor in the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics at the University of Chicago, for a talk about his new book, Human Capital for Humans: An Accessible Introduction to the Economic Science of People, published by the University of Chicago Press.

Peña's book offers an accessible guide to understanding human capital theory — the idea that investing in a person's knowledge and skills has wide-ranging economic effects. Drawing on the revolutionary insights of Nobel laureate Gary Becker, under whom Peña studied, the book explores how human capital theory applies to everyday decisions about parenting, aging, marriage, health, and household labor. With an illustrative and immersive style, Human Capital for Humans makes this consequential science accessible to general audiences while remaining intellectually rigorous. 

Peña specializes in applied price theory, human capital theory, and empirical economics. In addition to his teaching at UChicago, he co-founded Microanalitica, a consulting firm using experiments and quasi-experiments to produce actionable intelligence for businesses, nonprofits, and government agencies, and previously served as chief economist of Mexico's National Banking and Securities Commission. The book has received enthusiastic endorsements from Steven Levitt (co-author of Freakonomics), Angela Duckworth (author of Grit), Michael Kremer (2019 Nobel laureate in Economics), and former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, among others.