1. Blake is considering whether to enroll full-time in a two-year, webpage design certificate program. Enrolling in this program requires him to leave his current job and devote all of his available time to his studies. He plans to make his decision based on standard human capital analysis, and has obtained the following data to help with his decision:

Direct Costs (tuition and fees in each year): $2,000 Current annual earnings (i.e., w/o the additional education): $5,000

After completing the certificate program, Blake will work 3 years and then retire (thus, this is a 5-period model: t = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4). His estimated annual earnings, post-schooling, in each year are: $11,000

Blake's discount rate is 3%

Create a table with the following information (shown in columns): time period, direct costs in each period, indirect costs in each period, expected earnings with additional schooling, and incremental (net) benefits in each period (discounted by the appropriate rate). Given the data, explain whether Blake should undertake this human capital investment. Illustrate graphically Blake’s human capital earnings profile. Be sure to identify the direct costs, indirect costs, and incremental benefits of the human capital investment.

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Explanations and a graph illustrating Blakes human capital earnings profile Time Period t Direct Cos... View the full answer