Key takeaways. Human capital is the basis for workers to contribute to society and receive corresponding remuneration, and it is also a key factor in determining potential growth capacity. Accurately measuring the level of residents' human capital and grasping the law of human capital development is the basic work to promote the high-quality development of the population. To improve the level of human capital of residents, it is necessary to start with early education, increase personalized education and vocational training, and develop and make good use of the labor resources of the elderly and elderly.
Li Jianwei Gu Tianan.
Human capital refers to the sum of knowledge, skills, physical strength and ability to obtain information possessed by workers, which is the core element that determines economic growth and the basis for determining workers' compensation. It is a necessary prerequisite to improve the income distribution system and promote the high-quality development of the population by accurately measuring the level of human capital in China at this stage and grasping the characteristics of the differentiated distribution of human capital and its internal evolution law. At present, China is in the process of rapid development of population decline and aging, and improving the quality and health of people is an inevitable choice to promote the high-quality development of the population, improve the level of social human capital accumulation, and enhance the ability of sustainable economic and social development.
The inverted U-shaped development characteristics of the fluid capacity of Chinese residents.
Fluid competence refers to the ability to discover complex relationships and solve problems that can help deal with new, abstract problems. The research of Horn and other scholars shows that human fluid ability is the basis of general ability, is the innate endowment of the individual, is not affected by educational and social factors, and its development is characterized by an inverted U-shaped development with age, usually peaking at the age of 20 to 25, and gradually declining after the age of 25. Based on the test results of 108499 residents' 9 broad abilities, the fluid ability score of Chinese residents was calculated. According to the test results, the fluid capacity of Chinese residents is generally in line with the general law of inverted U-shaped development with age, and its development trend has the following four characteristics.
First, the fluid capacity of residents obeys a normal distribution. According to the distribution of the scores of the nine broad capacities included in the residents' fluid capacity, the score of the residents' fluid capacity in China ranged from 1 to 265 points, and the average score was 985 points, with a standard deviation of 1483,58% of the inhabitants were concentrated between 90 and 110 points, and the simulation analysis showed that the residents' fluid capacity roughly obeyed the expected value of 985. The standard deviation is 1483 (see Figure 1). The normal distribution characteristics of fluid capacity show that the distribution of residents' fluid capacity has strong natural attributes, and it is an objective phenomenon that there is a certain gap in fluid capacity between individuals.
Second, the level of residents' fluid capacity showed an inverted U-shaped evolution trend with age. From the perspective of the average fluid capacity of residents in different age groups, before the age of 12 is the period of rapid improvement of residents' fluid capacity, and the score of 3-6 years old is only 931 point, 9-12 years old greatly increased to 989 points, after which it enters the stage of slow improvement, increasing to a peak of 100 points at the age of 22-30, and then gradually declining, falling to 98 at the age of 30-409 points, 50-60 years old rose to 994 points, 60-70 years old and 70-90 years old are reduced to 993 points and 99 points. Different from the conclusion that the fluid capacity will continue to decline after reaching the peak revealed by the fluid capacity theory, the fluid capacity of Chinese residents has not continued to decline significantly after reaching the peak at the age of 22-30, and it still remains above 99 points after the age of 40.
Third, the dispersion coefficient of residents' fluid capacity decreases with age.
From the dispersion coefficient (standard deviation mean) of fluid capacity in different age groups, the dispersion coefficient of fluid capacity in the whole sample population was 01506, that is, the average difference in the fluid capacity score of the sample population is 1506%, but the dispersion coefficient of different age groups decreases with age, from 0In 1946, it fell to 01483。The results show that the gap in the fluid ability of residents tends to narrow with age, indicating that although the fluid ability is mainly determined by congenital factors, the acquired Xi and experience accumulation still have a significant impact on the fluid ability.
Fourth, the Gini coefficient of residents' fluid capacity showed a U-shaped development of first decreasing and then rising.
The discrete coefficient only reflects the distribution of residents' fluid ability, and from the Gini coefficient, which considers the difference between the two dimensions of population distribution and intelligence distribution of fluid ability, the difference degree of fluid ability of the whole group, i.e., the Gini coefficient, is increased to 02979, that is, the overall gap in the fluid capacity of the inhabitants is 2979%, which is much higher than the dispersion coefficient. The degree of differentiation of different age groups showed a U-shaped trend with age, ranging from 0. to 05678 was reduced to 0After 212, it gradually rises to 03526。In other words, the gap in fluid capacity between residents before the age of 22 narrows with age, but after the age of 22, it widens with age (see Figure 2). The results show that social factors such as acquired education and experience accumulation will have a significant impact on residents' fluid ability, rather than "fluid ability is an individual's innate endowment and is not affected by educational and social factors" as the traditional theory says.
The development characteristics of the crystal ability of Chinese residents are increasing with age.
Crystal ability refers to the ability that people acquire through education and social experience, which is mainly shaped by the environment and education, and is greatly affected by acquired experience, which is closely related to the education level and experience of the individual. The research of Herb et al. shows that crystal ability depends largely on the initial level of fluid ability, but unlike the inverted U-shaped development trend of fluid ability, crystal ability improves with the growth of human Xi and experience. We take the seven broad abilities of computing ability, number sense ability, literacy ability, vocabulary ability, association ability, logical ability and insight ability as the connotation of crystal ability, and calculate the crystal ability score of Chinese residents according to the test results of the seven broad abilities of 108499 residents. According to the test results, the crystal ability of Chinese residents is generally in line with the general development law of increasing with age, and its development trend has the following four characteristics.
First, the crystal capacity of residents obeys a normal distribution. From the distribution of seven broad types of crystal ability, the score of crystal ability of Chinese residents ranges from 8 to 175 points, with an average value of 981 point, the median is 100, and the standard deviation is 1565. Simulation analysis shows that the crystalline capability is roughly subject to the expected value of 981. The standard deviation is 1565 (see Figure 3). This distribution characteristic of crystal ability shows that although crystal ability is greatly affected by acquired factors such as education and experience accumulation, its distribution still has strong natural attributes, and it is an objective and inevitable phenomenon that there is a certain gap in crystal ability between individuals. Based on the characteristics of normal distribution, various acquired factors can change the level of individual ability and its gap, but cannot eliminate the ability gap between individuals.
Second, the level of residents' crystal ability continues to improve with age. According to the results of the crystal ability test of different age groups, the crystal ability of Chinese residents generally improves with age, from 93 to 93 years old in 3-6 years old8 points increased to 99 for 70-90 year olds9 points. As with fluid ability, the period of rapid improvement in crystal ability is also the pre-school and primary education stage before the age of 12, when the level of crystal ability of residents increases from 938 points increased to 983 points, an increase of 48%。It should be noted that the level of crystal ability of residents in the two age groups of 22-30 years old and 30-40 years old decreased slightly, to 99 points and 98 points, respectively2 points. This phenomenon of deviating from the continuous upward trend of crystal ability is related to the fact that fluid ability begins to decline after reaching the peak in this period, and the skills accumulated by the education Xi of the two age groups are related to the deviation between the skills required by the actual work after work, but these two age groups are also an important period for most people to end school education and enter work, and it is also a critical period for marriage and childbearing. The reduction of time and energy that can be used for personal improvement is related to the need for high attention. At the same time, although the crystal ability of residents after the age of 60 has not been further improved, it is still maintained at a high level, and the crystal ability scores of the 60-70 and 70-90 age groups are stable at 997 points and 999 points, which is basically the same as the score of the 50-60 age group.
Third, the discrete coefficient of crystal ability shows an inverted U-shaped evolution trend with age. The dispersion coefficient of the crystalline capability of the whole population is 01595, the Gini coefficient is 02623, but the dispersion coefficient and Gini coefficient of crystal ability in different age groups show completely different trends. From the perspective of the population distribution of crystal ability, the degree of differentiation of crystal ability in people of different ages shows an inverted U-shaped trend of first rising and then decreasing, and its dispersion coefficient shows a slight upward trend before the age of 40, from 0. to 01578 continues to rise to 0In 1753, the degree of dispersion expanded by 1112%；However, after the age of 40, the dispersion coefficient of crystal ability tends to shrink, and it decreases to 0 in the age group of 70-90 years1488, a reduction of 1511%；That is, before the age of 40, various acquired factors will lead to the widening of the gap in residents' ability, but after the age of 40, various factors will lead to the narrowing of the gap in residents' ability.
Fourth, the Gini coefficient of crystal capacity showed a U-shaped evolution trend with age. Contrary to the inverted U-shaped trend of the discrete coefficient, the Gini coefficient of crystal ability in different age groups showed a U-shaped trend of first decreasing and then rising, ranging from 0. to 04369 was reduced to 0After 144, it gradually rises to 02013 (see Figure 4). The different trends of discrete coefficient and Gini coefficient show that the degree of differentiation of population distribution (the proportion of people with different ability levels) under different crystal ability levels is much greater than the difference degree of ability distribution (the proportion of ability of different populations) under different crystal ability levels, that is, the deviation of individual crystal ability from the average ability level reflected by the discrete coefficient is small, but the distribution of the whole population is relatively flat, and there are relatively many people who are particularly high or low, and there are relatively few people in the middle level range. In the process of changing individual crystal ability with age, the effect of population distribution change is greater than that of crystal ability distribution.
Characteristics of the development of the general capacity (human capital) of Chinese residents.
We use the general capacity of residents as a measure of human capital. The general ability of residents is a comprehensive summary of fluid ability, crystal ability and 16 broad abilities, and the arithmetic average of the scores of the 16 broad ability assessments is used to obtain the general ability score of the individual. According to the test results of the general ability level of the whole sample of residents, the general ability score of Chinese residents ranged from 4 to 219 points, with an average value of 984 points, median 100, standard deviation 1507. 56% of the general ability score is concentrated in the range of 90-110, and the overall distribution roughly obeys the expected value of 984. The standard deviation is 1507 (see Figure 5). This result is basically consistent with the internationally accepted ability measures, such as the standard deviation of the Wechsler scale is 15, the standard deviation of the Stanford-Binai scale is 16, and the standard deviation of the general ability of Chinese residents is 1507, which is slightly higher than the standard deviation of the Wechsler scale, indicates that the distribution characteristics of human capital of Chinese residents based on general ability measurement have good stability.
According to the test results of different age groups, the 3-6 age group has the lowest general ability score, only 933 points, before the age of 30, the general ability with the increase of age, of which 6-9 years old is the fastest improvement period, and the general ability is 4 more than that of 3-6 years old72%；9-12 years old still maintained a rapid improvement, an increase of 1 compared with 6-9 years old13%, and then the increase gradually weakened, and the average general ability of the 22-30 age group increased to 99The peak of 8 points is 697%。After the age of 30, the general ability of residents is no longer improved, but there is no significant decline, showing a state of fluctuating development, of which the average general ability of the 30-40 age group drops to 988 points, the average general ability of the 40-50 age group rose to 992 points, the mean general ability of the 50-60 and 60-90 age groups is stable at 995 points.
This development characteristic of residents' general ability shows that before the age of 30, the general ability of Chinese residents will continue to improve with age, reaching a peak at the age of 20-30, and the general ability of residents will fluctuate after the age of 30, but the overall stability is 99The high level of about 2 points, especially the 60-70-year-old and 70-90-year-old groups, the general ability is as high as 995 points and 994 points, significantly higher than 98 in the 3-15 age groupThe average general ability of 04 points is also significantly higher than that of the 15-22 age group of 99The average score of 15 points is only slightly lower than 99 in the 22-60 age groupWith a mean of 54 points, the general ability of the elderly population does not decline significantly with age.
From the perspective of the dispersion coefficient of the general ability of residents in different age groups, the gap in the general ability of each age group will narrow with the increase of age, and the dispersion degree of general ability within the 3-6 year old age group is the highest, and the dispersion coefficient is 0Since 1905, the degree of dispersion has fluctuated with age, but generally tends to decline, and the dispersion coefficient of the 70-90 age group has decreased to 01487。
The discrete coefficient only reflects the average difference in the general ability of different individuals from the average range of deviation from the mean of the general ability of the population, and from the Gini coefficient of the two dimensions of the distribution of people with different ability levels and the ability distribution of different populations, the degree of difference in the general ability of residents calculated by the whole sample without grouping data is 02823。However, the degree of differentiation of different age groups was obvious, and the overall trend was U-shaped with age, and the Gini coefficient of the 3-6 age group was the highest, which was 05154, and then the degree of differentiation continued to decline with age, and the Gini coefficient of the 18-22 age group dropped to 0The low point of 1895 has since expanded again with age, and the Gini coefficient has risen to 0 in the 70-90 age group2829。The U-shaped trend of the Gini coefficient of the general ability of residents is the result of the different development paths of fluid ability and crystal ability and the U-shaped evolution of the internal differentiation of the two capabilities (Fig. 6).
Inspiration and Recommendations.
According to the test results of 100,000 residents in China, the human capital of Chinese residents has obvious differences and obeys a normal distribution, and the Gini coefficients of residents' human capital, fluid ability and crystal ability from 2009 to 2022 are2623, the degree of differentiation of fluid ability is significantly higher than that of crystal ability, and the Gini coefficient of general ability, fluid ability and crystal ability all show a U-shaped trend of first decreasing and then increasing with age. From the perspective of the development characteristics of the ability level of residents in different age groups, the fluid ability develops in an inverted U-shape, and the crystal ability continues to improve with age, and the common feature is that the rapid improvement period of ability is the early education stage before the age of 12. In view of the fact that human capital is the basic element of economic and social development, and improving the level of human capital of residents is the core essence of promoting high-quality population development, and it is also the fundamental path to cope with the decline of population size and aging of population structure and improve the ability of sustainable economic and social development.
1) The most important part of improving the ability level of residents is early education.
The traditional fluid ability theory believes that fluid ability is the innate endowment of the individual, which is not affected by education and social factors, and the crystal ability mainly depends on the acquired pedagogical Xi and other social factors, but from the development characteristics of the fluid ability of Chinese residents, the fluid ability of residents conforms to the general evolution law of inverted U-shaped development with age, and its degree of differentiation also develops in a U-shape with age, and the change of Gini coefficient of fluid capacity is obviously caused by educational and social factors. If fluid capacity is entirely dependent on innate endowment, the degree of differentiation does not change with age. Considering that the acquired factors affecting fluid ability and crystal ability are mainly education and experience accumulation, before the age of 12 is the period when fluid ability and crystal ability are improved the fastest, and the improvement of ability during this period directly affects the level of ability in the later stage, and improving the quality of preschool education and primary school education is the most important link to improve the general ability level of residents. In view of this, we should attach great importance to and strengthen pre-school education and basic education, increase financial investment, include pre-school education in the scope of compulsory education, and popularize pre-school education as soon as possible; Intensify the reform of quality education in primary schools, increase the training of teachers in pre-school education, improve the quality of teachers, and provide sufficient high-quality teachers for universal pre-school education.
2) Individualized education is essential to improve the ability level of residents.
The Gini coefficient of fluid ability and crystal ability of residents aged 3-6 years is as high as 05678 and 04639, indicating that there is a large difference in innate endowment between individuals, and the Gini coefficient of fluid ability and crystalloid ability drops to 0 by the age of 18-22 years212 and 01654, that is, at the end of undergraduate education, the degree of differentiation of residents' fluid ability and crystallization ability decreased significantly, which was 62 lower than that at the age of 3-6 years67% and 6435%。Before the age of 22 is a critical period for residents to receive basic education and higher education, in order to promote educational equity, China's basic education and higher education are mainly standardized education, and the substantial decline of the Gini coefficient of fluid ability and crystal ability reflects the positive impact of standardized education on promoting educational equity and narrowing the gap between residents' ability, but the substantial decline of the Gini coefficient also means that standardized education improves the fluid ability and crystal ability of the group with lower congenital endowment. The fluid ability and crystallization ability of the group with higher innate endowment are not fully improved, resulting in the loss of the general ability of the society, that is, human capital resources. To improve the level of social human capital, it is necessary to increase the reform of personalized education according to aptitude, and fully develop and make good use of the ability resources of people with high congenital endowment.
3) Emphasis should be placed on the development and utilization of capacity resources for the elderly and the elderly.
After the age of 40, the fluid capacity of Chinese residents has decreased slightly, but it still remains at a very high level, the crystal ability still maintains an upward trend, and the general ability and human capital of residents aged 50-90 still remain at 99A high level of 4 points. The results show that although the physical strength and energy of the older and older population tend to decline with age, they are still valuable human resources in China. In particular, China's population has entered the era of rapid aging, and it is of great significance to develop and make good use of the fluid capacity resources of the elderly population to enhance the sustainability of economic and social development. It is necessary to follow the law of the internal evolution of human ability, accelerate the construction of a lifelong learning and Xi system for the whole people, increase investment in human capital, especially for the education and training of the middle-aged and elderly population after the age of 40, and continue to improve the crystal ability, which can not only make up for the negative impact of the natural decline of fluid capacity on human capital, but also narrow the gap in human capital to a certain extent. In the face of the multiple challenges of China's declining birthrate and aging population, it is necessary to increase the flexibility of policy design, focus on promoting the development and utilization of elderly human resources, and continuously improve the utilization rate of human capital.
Li Jianwei, Director and Researcher, Director of the Social and Cultural Development Research Department of the **Development Research Center; Gu Tianan, Chief Researcher of the National Research Institute of Big Data).