Emotional Competences: Why they Matters at Work and they Question VET Curricula? Prof. Dr. Bénédicte GENDRON Professor of University University Paul Valéry, Montpellier III Researcher at Cerfee, and at Cereq, Les-Matisse, Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne E-mail : benedicte.gendron@univ-montp3.fr Extract Introduction In economics, since many leading economists’ theorists –Herbert Simon, Kenneth Arrow, Amartaya Sen, and others –have pointed out the paradoxes of rationality, the possibility of market failure, the need for a welfare economics dealing with group benefits, and the limits of economic man, Chicago school theorists do not represent the discipline of economics as a whole. And even among economists who share many of the assumptions of the Chicago school there are major controversies and differences of opinion, such as whether one can assume that rational choosers have perfect information or whether individuals who make decision do so within hierarchies and institutions. Gary Becker, for example, allows room for the other social sciences, including sociology- but only if they accept the terrain established by economics. Does this “expanding domain of economics” reflect the efforts of the Chicago school to colonize the other social sciences or/and a permanent shift in the hegemony of the social sciences by using the technique of economics? As from the perspective of the Chicago school, there is no behaviour that is not interpretable as economic, however, altruistic, emotional, disinterested, and compassionate, it may seem to others. This article could contribute to that trend without its will as our will, especially, is to stress out that psychological behaviour matters in economics and from there, it can be found some economics value and returns at working on psychological variables. If emotional or compassionate behaviour can find an explanation in an economic approach, in the upside down, emotional behaviour has to be taken into account in economic theory as it can have major returns and impacts in economics. We will argument this position in the perspective of an optimal constitution and exploitation of Human Capital through a conceptual framework that we named “emotional capital”. First, we will define the different capitals in social sciences: human capital, social and cultural capital. Second, we will introduce and therefore define a new type of capital: the Emotional Capital. Third, we will show that Emotional Capital through its links with human, social and cultural capitals matters a lot in economics; especially, Emotional Capital is a crucial capital to allow human capital formation, or accumulation and its optimal exploitation. We illustrate our point in two fields: education (school HC constitution) and work (workplace HC exploitation) as our conceptual model allow us to understand boys’ drop out, and at the opposite girls’ success at school and, concerning the workplace, it can explain some differences and discriminations between males and females regarding wages and career prospects. I Emotional Capital and its links with Human and Social and Cultural Capitals Emotions have to be taken into account in economic theory as they can have major impacts and economical returns, if well managed and utilized. We will argument this position in the perspective of an optimal constitution and exploitation of Human capital through a conceptual framework that we named “emotional capital”. We will first, define some concepts which are at the basis of our conceptual model: emotional intelligence and competencies. Then, we will define what we mean by “emotional capital”. To end, we will