Gary Stanley Becker, born in 1930, is an American economist and Professor at the University of Chicago where he teaches economics and sociology. He won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1992 for his contributions to microeconomic analysis, which have extended the field to a wide range of human behaviour and interaction, including non-market behaviour.
Starting from his economic approach, Becker recognizes individuals as rational beings and utility maximization seekers, and each decision an individual takes will have been carried out using a cost-benefit analysis. He researched on this assumption in four analysis areas: human capital, criminality, sex and race discrimination and family behaviour.
Becker´s most noteworthy work is “Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, with Special Reference to Education”, 1964. In this book he proposes the idea that a well prepared workforce is an important asset for any country, since the training of workers increases the productive capacity of the workforce. Furthermore, he also claims for the minimum salary elimination in order to encourage firms to hire a larger number of employees.