But there is a difference between buying and selling
people — which would be slavery — and investing in their careers. Human capital
contracts have been proposed by esteemed economists including Milton Friedman,
who advocated them as an
alternative to taking on student loans. Yale University
even experimented with them before the federal government started guaranteeing
loans. The concept has been compared to artistic patronage, as when wealthy
merchants funded artists in Renaissance Italy in exchange for prestige, artistic
influence, and a collection of works that could climb in value.
Today, it's common for tournament poker players to raise money
from backers in exchange for a cut of the winnings.
"People find it creepy because people in general
don’t want to believe that there is a market value associated with them,"
Spear said. "Take this to another level, and everyone would have a value
to them. And they do, we just don’t talk about it. You’re worth this
much given your future projections about what you’re going to make in life.
It’s just math. It’s just facts."
...
Upstart has already funded 40 people via more than 100
backers, for a total of $500,000 invested. It already has some contracts in
repayment. But Upstart isn’t the only company eyeing human capital contracts.
theverge
