Peter F. Orazem
Iowa State University
Greg Traxler
University of Washington
Nicholas Kalaitzandonakes
University of Missouri

This introduction relates how Wallace Huffman went from a farm boy in southern Iowa to Iowa State University and the University of Chicago, and then brought the human capital approach of T.W. Schultz and D. Gale Johnson back to Iowa State. We also show how Huffman’s work in human capital, rural labor markets, technological innovation, returns to research and development, and behavioral economics are influencing current research in these areas, as was evident in the papers presented in this collection.

Key words: Human capital, rural labor, immigration, technology, research and development, food safety, genetically modified organisms, behavioral experiments.