The Geography of Human Capital: Why Rich Regions Stay Rich

The Geography of Human Capital: Why Rich Regions Stay Rich

March 17, 2026 · 49 min

About this episode

This episode explores the disparities in human capital acquisition across different regions of the world.

People in the Netherlands average nearly 11 years of schooling, compared to about 2.5 for those in the Central African Republic. Why don't these gaps close? In this episode, Esteban Rossi-Hansberg of the University of Chicago explains recent research that divides the entire globe into more than 16,000 grid cells to study the costs of acquiring human capital, and how these valuable skills drive economic development.

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Guest: Esteban Rossi-Hansberg

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Organizations: University of Chicago

Places: Netherlands, Central African Republic

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