The Correlation of Human Capital on Costs of Air Force Acquisition Programs

<p>Previous studies have linked human capital with performance. The studies have shown performance measured as output of a firm can be increased by adding more personnel and/or increasing education levels. This research uses the Cobb-Douglas Production function to build upon that relationship of inputs to outputs. The output in this study is the average cost overrun of Aeronautical Systems Center research development test and evaluation contracts managed from 1994 to 2008. The inputs are the numbers of military/government employee financial managers program managers engineers rated personnel and military/government employees in those career fields possessing a graduate degree or higher. A time series regression was conducted using those inputs to outputs while controlling for other factors such as budgetary fluctuations inflation and individuals doing defense related work in the private sector as a proxy for contractors working in program offices. The results indicate a negatively correlated relationship exists between human capital and cost overruns.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p>