Human capital characterized by a system of indicators reflecting the processes of population reproduction, their possibilities(capabilities) in meeting needs under current living conditions, taking into account health, safety and environmental conditions.

Human capital is often compared to produced resources. To some extent, the abilities that people have that enable them to earn high incomes are manufactured, not inherited at birth or simply acquired by chance.

At the same time, the category of “capabilities” is a more neutral concept and, therefore, may be the most appropriate term to characterize human capital. To the main opportunities person can be classified as: physiological, intellectual, organizational, financial (monetary), property and others.

Non-financial capital reflects not only property and property, land, reserves and natural resources, but also intangible resources.

Financial capital(cash) includes all financial assets and liabilities, currency and deposits, securities and shares, monetary gold and insurance reserves, accounts receivable and payable, investments, share capital, loans and borrowings.

At the end of the twentieth century, the World Bank (WB) proposed a new concept for measuring the national wealth (capital) of a country, including human, natural and reproducible capital. Let us present the calculation of the amount of capital proposed by the World Bank (Table 1.1).

In contrast to traditional indicators of national wealth, the new concept of a country’s capital makes it possible to judge the scale of accumulation of other elements against the background of the overall aggregate.

TO human capital(potential) can be attributed indicators that ensure the well-being and comfort of life of the population. Significant funds are spent annually on the reproduction of human capital, including costs for the functioning of the system of upbringing, education, promotion of health and other factors for increasing the working capacity of people, increasing the working period and other aspects of the conditions for favorable life activity. This, in turn, leads to increased productivity of social labor and an increase in the standard of living of the population.

The World Bank prioritizes accounting, or human capital, as the most important element and factor. To assess this factor, it is proposed to determine total costs in the life support industry: including education, qualifications, health, improvement living conditions, raising and expanding the middle class in it.

Natural capital includes proven reserves and produced natural resources in the country. Its value per capita ranges from $6 thousand in Western European countries to $58 thousand in the Middle East and up to $160 thousand in Russia.

By security reproducible capital gaps in indicators range from $27 thousand in the Middle East to $62 thousand in the USA and Canada, leaving Russia in the middle of these parameters. In Russia, security accounts for a tenth of the total national wealth, and in other countries specific gravity this element is approximately twice as high.

Thus, the total volume of global national wealth is over 550 trillion. US dollars or 90 thousand dollars per capita. The undoubted advantage of new estimates of national wealth is the use of uniform principles for taking into account all elements in all countries of the world. This allows us to determine the scale of real accumulation as the basis for expanded reproduction.

Measuring Human Capital

Theory and methodology for measuring capital and government regulation of socio-economic processes, developed by J.M. Keynes, V.V. Leontiev, R. Stone and other scientists of the world, entered our everyday life. The main conceptual approaches are enshrined in the framework, which Russia and many countries of the world have already mastered seriously and for a long time.

The authorities have learned to use official accounting methods to measure the quantity and condition of fixed capital (funds) and financial capital (money). However, it is not yet possible to accurately measure the state of human potential, although it, like funds and money, is constantly being worn out. A generally accepted theory of human capital and criteria for assessing the most important resource of any state have not yet been created. There is no unity of views among scientists on the principles and methods of accounting when characterizing the value of labor and knowledge of a particular individual or household.

The main contradictions among scientists when formulating the concept of “human potential” lie, in our opinion, in the fundamentals of a purely political-economic and ideological nature: in assessing a person’s activity by labor or by the capital he has; in state regulation of socio-economic processes or their liberalization; in the socialization or capitalization of human capital.

problem socio-economic Scientists around the world have tried to reveal measurements of ideal wealth for several centuries(A. Smith, J. Say, K. Marx, A. Marshall, etc.). Even then, the idea of ​​human potential was used for a variety of purposes: determining the economic benefits of human migration and protecting their health, to measuring the total losses of a nation as a result of wars and natural disasters, as well as calculating the economic value of human life.

In the 20th century, Russian scientists S. Strumilin, L. Gavrishev and others played a major role in the development of the idea of ​​human capital. However, the individual approaches of the theory they developed were weakly interconnected and did not represent a holistic and organized scientific system knowledge.

On February 7, 2008, the President of the Russian Federation approved the “Strategy for the Development of the Information Society in the Russian Federation,” which noted that “the increase in added value (GDP) in the economy occurs today largely due to intellectual activity,” i.e. development of human potential.

Existing system of official statistics has numerous methods for measuring various SNA indicators (GDP, GRP, profit, standard of living, poverty, unemployment, etc.). At the same time, the contribution of human capital to the creation of gross domestic product is not yet measured accurately enough. For example, the value of labor and knowledge of hired workers and the share of human capital in the national wealth of the country are not fully reflected.

The most important resource - the worker - often falls out of the scope of measurement in the process of economic management.

Therefore, the UN recommended that all countries of the world conduct calculations (HDI) within the framework of basic human conditions and capabilities - to live long, gain knowledge and have a decent standard of living. Three indicators were selected to reflect and measure these aspects: life expectancy, educational level and income.

For measuring "wear and tear" of human resources it is proposed to apply UN standards, according to which a person, like fixed assets, wears out during his life. The moral (moral, natural-physiological) deterioration of a person depends on the living conditions that, according to the Constitution of the Russian Federation (Article 7), the state is obliged to create for the population. However constant stress and difficulties in life reduce human life expectancy.

It is also necessary to take into account the degree of depreciation of human potential, which can be determined annually by the rate of increase in the value of human capital and the level of consumption of this capital (or depreciation). These funds are necessary for health improvement, education, creation of working and living conditions, safety, etc.

In Russia, scientific research to find reliable methods of reflecting human potential in reality conducted by statisticians and economists, physiologists and psychologists, managers and team management specialists.

Physiologists they measure: how much and what a person emits when working, how his body temperature changes, etc. Psychologists They develop various tests, trying to reflect a person’s personal qualities and his suitability for a particular activity. Personnel officers and HR specialists draw up job descriptions, knowledge tests functional responsibilities and personnel compatibility, motivation and responsibility systems. Managers and managers endlessly formalize business processes to optimize labor and production intensity.

All this is done with one goal - to increase labor efficiency and the growth of human potential. For this purpose, scientifically based observations and measurements of all resources are organized, various systems of indicators are created that characterize certain aspects of the human capital of households and enterprises.

1. Quality of life of the population and living conditions:
   • human physiology: longevity, health, morbidity, disability, injuries;
   • intelligence: education, qualifications, knowledge and professional experience;
   • organizational skills: management, communications, relationships, etc.;
2. Possibilities of the population:
   • ownership of financial capital: cash and currency, investments, securities, loans, shares and other assets;
   • ownership of non-financial capital: land, fixed capital, intangible resources (patents, name, goodwill) and inventories, etc.;
   • investment costs and the value of past expenditures in human capital;
3. Efficient use of human, financial and non-financial potential;
4. Intensity of use of human, financial and non-financial capital.

The proposed system of indicators helps to improve the efficiency of work with personnel and economic management. It must be completely transferred to a unified methodology of the system of national accounts, which will require the creation of automated databases that comply with international norms and standards.

This requires the modernization of statistics and management as the foundations of management activities, in the improvement and expansion of observations and methods for measuring not only resources and costs, but also human capital, or rather the employee. A system of indicators must appear that reflects its physiological and socio-economic essence, commensurate with the assessment of financial and non-financial capital.

The theory of human capital began to be studied back in the 19th century. Then this became one of the promising directions for the development of economic science. Already from the second half of the twentieth century. it became a major achievement, primarily in the economics of education and labor. In the economic literature, the concept of human capital is considered in a broad and narrow sense. In a narrow sense, “one of the forms of capital is education. It was called human because this form becomes part of a person, and capital is due to the fact that it represents a source of future satisfaction or future earnings, or both.” In a broad sense, human capital is formed through investments (long-term investments) in a person in the form of costs for education and training of the workforce in production, health care, migration and searching for information about prices and incomes.

In the "Economic Encyclopedia" human capital is defined as "a special type of capital investment, a set of costs for the development of human reproductive potential, improving the quality and functioning of the workforce. The objects of human capital usually include knowledge of a general educational and special nature, skills, and accumulated experience. For more a complete and detailed description of human capital uses a functional approach. The principle of functional definition characterizes a phenomenon not only from the point of view of its internal structure, but from the point of view of its functional purpose, final intended use.

Therefore, human capital is not simply a set of skills, knowledge, and abilities that a person possesses. Firstly, it is an accumulated stock of skills, knowledge, and abilities. Secondly, this is a stock of skills, knowledge, and abilities that are expediently used by a person in one or another sphere of social reproduction and contributes to the growth of labor productivity and production. Thirdly, the appropriate use of this reserve in the form of highly productive activities naturally leads to an increase in the employee’s earnings (income). And, fourthly, an increase in income stimulates and interests a person through investments that may relate to health, education, etc., to increase, accumulate a new stock of skills, knowledge and motivation in order to effectively use it again in the future.

Features of human capital:

1. B modern conditions human capital is main value society and the main factor of economic growth;

2. The formation of human capital requires significant costs from the individual himself and the entire society;

3. Human capital in the form of skills and abilities is a certain reserve, i.e. may be cumulative;

4. Human capital can physically wear out, change its value economically and depreciate;

5. Human capital differs from physical capital in terms of liquidity;

6. Human capital is inseparable from its carrier - a living human personality;

7. Regardless of the sources of formation, which can be state, family, private, etc., the use of human capital and the receipt of direct income is controlled by the person himself.

In the economic literature, there are several approaches to classifying types of human capital. Types of human capital can be classified according to the elements of costs, investments in human capital. For example, the following components are distinguished: educational capital, health capital and cultural capital.
From the point of view of the nature of promoting the economic well-being of society, a distinction is made between consumer and productive human capital. Consumption capital creates a flow of services that are directly consumed and thus contributes to social utility.

This can be a creative and educational activity. The result of such activity is expressed in the provision to the consumer of such consumer services that lead to the emergence of new ways to satisfy needs or increase the efficiency of existing ways to satisfy them. Productive capital creates a flow of services, the consumption of which contributes to social utility. In this case, we mean scientific and educational activities that have direct practical application specifically in production (the creation of means of production, technologies, production services and products).

The next criterion for classifying types of human capital is the difference between the forms in which it is embodied. Living capital includes knowledge embodied in a person. Non-living capital is created when knowledge is embodied in physical, material forms. Institutional capital consists of living and non-living capital associated with the production of services that satisfy the collective needs of society. It includes all governmental and non-governmental institutions that promote the efficient use of the two types of capital.

Based on the form of on-the-job training for employees, we can distinguish special human capital And total human capital. Specialized human capital includes skills and knowledge acquired as a result of special training and are of interest only to the company where they were acquired. Unlike special human capital, general human capital represents knowledge that can be in demand in various areas of human activity.

Thus, while there are a large number of definitions and types of “human capital”, this concept, like many terms, is “a metaphor that transfers the properties of one phenomenon to another according to a common characteristic for them.” Human capital is the most important component modern productive capital, which is represented by the rich stock of knowledge inherent in humans, developed abilities, determined by intellectual and creative potential. The main factor in the existence and development of human capital is investment in human capital.

Human capital

Human capital- a set of knowledge, skills and abilities used to meet the diverse needs of an individual and society as a whole. The term was first used by Theodore Schultz, and his follower Gary Becker developed this idea, justifying the effectiveness of investments in human capital and formulating an economic approach to human behavior.

Human capital in a broad sense, it is an intensive productive factor in economic development, social and family development, including the educated part of the labor force, knowledge, intellectual and managerial work, living and working environment, ensuring the effective and rational functioning of the human capital as a productive factor of development.

Briefly: Human capital- this is intelligence, health, knowledge, high-quality and productive work and quality of life.

Human capital is the main factor in the formation and development of the innovative economy and knowledge economy as the next highest stage of development.

One of the conditions for the development and improvement of the quality of human capital is a high index of economic freedom.

Use the classification of human capital:

1. Individual human capital.
2. Human capital of the company.
3. National human capital.

Human capital in developed countries accounts for 70 to 80% of national wealth. In Russia it is about 50%.

Background

Elements of the theory of human capital (HC) have existed since ancient times, when the first knowledge and education system were formed.

IN scientific literature the concept of human capital (Human Capital) appeared in publications of the second half of the 20th century in the works of American economists Theodore Schultz and Gary Becker (1992). For creating the foundations of the theory of human capital (HC), they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics - Theodore Schultz in 1979, Gary Becker in 1992. A native of Russia, Simon (Semyon) Kuznets, also made a significant contribution to the creation of the theory of HC. Nobel Prize in economics for 1971

The theory of human capital is based on the achievements of institutional theory, neoclassical theory, neo-Keynesianism and other particular economic theories. Its appearance was a response from economics and related sciences to the demand of the real economy and life. The problem has arisen of an in-depth understanding of the role of man and the accumulated results of his intellectual activity on the pace and quality of development of society and the economy. The impetus for the creation of the theory of human capital was the statistical data on the growth of the economies of developed countries, which exceeded calculations based on taking into account classical growth factors. Analysis of real processes of development and growth in modern conditions led to the approval of human capital as the main productive and social factor of development modern economy and society.

Contributions to the development of the modern theory of human capital were made by T. Schultz, G. Becker, E. Denison, R. Solow, J. Kendrick, S. Kuznets, S. Fabrikant, I. Fisher, R. Lucas and other economists, sociologists and historians .

The concept of human capital is a natural development and generalization of the concepts of human factor and human resource, however, human capital is a broader economic category.

The economic category “human capital” was formed gradually, and at the first stage it was limited to a person’s knowledge and ability to work. Moreover, long time human capital was considered only a social factor of development, that is, a cost factor, from the point of view economic theory. It was believed that investments in upbringing and education were unproductive and costly. In the second half of the 20th century, attitudes towards human capital and education gradually changed dramatically.

Broad definition of human capital

The concept of human capital (Human Capital) appeared in publications of the second half of the 20th century in the works of American economists Theodore Schultz and Gary Becker (1992). For creating the foundations of the theory of human capital (HC), they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics - Theodore Schultz in 1979, Gary Becker in 1992. Simon (Semyon) Kuznets, a native of Russia, who received the Nobel Prize, also made a significant contribution to the creation of the theory of HC in economics for 1971

The founders of the theory of human capital (HC) gave it a narrow definition, which expanded over time and continues to expand, including all new components of HC. As a result, Cheka has turned into a complex intensive factor in the development of the modern economy - the knowledge economy.

Currently, on the basis of the theory and practice of the Cheka, a successful development paradigm for the United States and leading European countries. Based on the theory of the Cheka, Sweden, which had lagged behind, modernized its economy and regained its leading position in the world economy in the 2000s. Finland, in a historically short period of time, has managed to move from a primarily resource-based economy to an innovative economy. And create your own competitive high technologies, without giving up the deepest processing of your main natural resource - forests. Managed to take first place in the world in the ranking of the competitiveness of the economy as a whole. Moreover, it was with the income from processing forests into goods with high added value that the Finns created their innovative technologies and products.

All this took place not because the theory and practice of Cheka realized some kind of magic wand, but because it became the answer of economic theory and practice to the challenges of the time, to the challenges of the innovative economy (knowledge economy) emerging in the second half of the 20th century and venture scientific -technical business.

The development of science and the formation of the information society have brought knowledge, education, health, quality of life of the population and the leading specialists themselves, who determine the creativity and innovativeness of national economies, to the forefront as components of a complex intensive development factor - human capital.

In the context of the globalization of the world economy, in the conditions of the free flow of any capital, including private capital, from country to country, from region to region, from city to city in conditions of intense international competition, the accelerated development of high technologies.

And countries with accumulated high-quality human capital have enormous advantages in creating stable conditions for increasing the quality of life, creating and developing a knowledge economy, information society, and developing civil society. That is, countries with an educated, healthy and optimistic population, competitive world-class professionals in all types of economic activity, in education, science, management and other areas.

Understanding and choosing human capital as the main factor of development literally dictates a systematic and integrated approach when developing a concept or development strategy and linking all other private strategies and programs with them. This dictate follows from the essence of the national Cheka as a multicomponent development factor. Moreover, this dictate particularly highlights the living conditions, work and quality of the tools of specialists who determine the creativity and creative energy of the country.

The core of the Cheka, of course, was and remains a person, but now an educated, creative and proactive person with a high level of professionalism. Human capital itself determines in the modern economy the main share of the national wealth of countries, regions, municipalities and organizations. At the same time, the share of unskilled labor in the GDP of developed and developing countries, including Russia, is becoming ever smaller, and in technologically advanced countries it is already vanishingly small.

Therefore, the division of labor into unskilled labor and labor requiring education, special skills and knowledge gradually loses its original meaning and economic content when defining Cheka, which the founders of Cheka theory identified with educated people and their accumulated knowledge and experience. The concept of Cheka as economic category is constantly expanding along with the development of the global information community and knowledge economy.

Human capital in a broad definition is an intensive productive factor in the development of the economy, society and family, including the educated part of the labor force, knowledge, tools of intellectual and managerial work, living environment and work activity, ensuring the effective and rational functioning of the human capital as a productive factor of development.

Briefly: Human capital is intelligence, health, knowledge, high-quality and productive work and quality of life.

The composition of the Cheka includes investments and the return on them in the tools of intellectual and managerial work, as well as investments in the operating environment of the Cheka, ensuring its effectiveness.

CC is a complex and distributed intensive development factor. It, like blood vessels in a living organism, permeates the entire economy and society. And ensures their functioning and development. Or, on the contrary, it depresses when its quality is low. Therefore, there are objective methodological difficulties in assessing its individual economic efficiency, its individual productivity, its individual contribution to GDP growth and to improving the quality of life. CHK, through its specialists and IT, contributes to the development and growth of the economy everywhere, in all types of economic and production activities.

CHK contributes to improving the quality and productivity of labor in all types of life activities and life support. In all types of economic activity and management, educated professionals determine the productivity and efficiency of labor. And knowledge, high-quality work, and the qualifications of specialists play a decisive role in the effectiveness of the functioning and work of institutions and organizations of all forms and types.

The main drivers for the development of Cheka are competition, investment, and innovation.

The innovative sector of the economy, the creative part of the elite, society, and state are sources of accumulation of high-quality human capital, which determines the direction and pace of development of the country, region, municipality, and organizations. On the other hand, accumulated high-quality human capital underlies the innovation system and economy (IE).

The development processes of HC and IE constitute a single process of formation and development of the innovative information society and its economy.

How does human capital differ from human potential? The human potential index of a country or region is calculated using three indicators: GDP (or GRP), life expectancy and literacy. That is, this is a narrower concept than Cheka. The latter absorbs the concept of human potential as its enlarged component.

How is human capital different from labor resources? Labor resources are directly people, educated and uneducated, who determine skilled and unskilled labor. Human capital is a much broader concept and includes, in addition to labor resources, accumulated investments (taking into account their depreciation) in education, science, health, safety, quality of life, tools for intellectual work and the environment that ensures the effective functioning of the human capital.

Investments in the formation of an effective elite, including in the organization of competition, are one of the most important investments in the Cheka. Since the times of the classics of science D. Toynbee and M. Weber, it has been known that it is the elite of the people who determine the vector of the direction of its development. Forward, sideways or backward.

An entrepreneurial resource is a creative resource, an intellectual resource for economic development. Therefore, investments in entrepreneurial resources are investments in the development of the human capital in terms of increasing its constructiveness, creativity and innovation. In particular, business angels are a necessary component of CHK.

Investments in institutional services are aimed at creating comfortable conditions for servicing government. institutions of citizens, including doctors, teachers, scientists, engineers, that is, the core of the Cheka, which helps improve the quality of their life and work.

With such an expansion of the economic category “human capital”, it emerges, as already noted, from the “flesh” of a person. People's brains do not work effectively when the quality of life is poor, when safety is low, or when the environment where a person lives and works is aggressive or oppressive.

The foundation on which innovative economies and information societies are created is the rule of law, high quality human capital, high quality of life and an efficient industrial economy, which has smoothly transformed into a post-industrial or innovative economy.

National human capital includes social, political capital, national intellectual priorities, national competitive advantages and the natural potential of the nation.

National human capital is measured by its value, calculated various methods- by investment, discounting method and others.

National human capital makes up more than half of the national wealth of each developing country and over 70-80% of the developed countries of the world.

The characteristics of national human capital determined the historical development of world civilizations and countries of the world. National human capital in the 20th and 21st centuries was and remains the main intensive factor in the development of the economy and society.

Estimates of the value of national human capital in countries around the world

The value of the national human capital of the world's countries was assessed by World Bank specialists based on the cost method.

Estimates of the components of human capital based on the costs of the state, families, entrepreneurs and various funds were used. They allow us to determine the current annual costs of society for the reproduction of human capital.

In the USA, the value of human capital at the end of the 20th century was $95 trillion, or 77% of the national wealth (NW), 26% of the global total value of the human capital.

The value of the global human capital amounted to $365 trillion, or 66% of global wealth, 384% of the US level.

For China, these figures are: $25 trillion, 77% of the total NB, 7% of the global total of HC and 26% of the US level. For Brazil, respectively: $9 trillion; 74%, 2% and 9%. For India: 7 trillion; 58%, 2%; 7%.

For Russia the figures are: $30 trillion; 50 %; 8 %; 32%.

The G7 countries and the EEC accounted for 59% of the global HC during the calculation period, which is 78% of their national wealth.

Human capital in most countries exceeded half of the accumulated national wealth (the exception is the OPEC countries). The percentage of HC is significantly influenced by the cost of natural resources. In particular, for Russia the share of the cost of natural resources is relatively large.

The bulk of the world's human capital is concentrated in developed countries. This is due to the fact that investment in human capital in the last half century in these countries has significantly outpaced investment in physical capital. In the United States, the ratio of “investment in people” to productive investment (social spending on education, health care and social security as a percentage of industrial investment) was 194% in 1970, and 318% in 1990.

There are certain difficulties in comparatively assessing the value of human capital in countries with different levels of development. The human capital of an underdeveloped country and a developed country has significantly different productivity per unit of capital, as well as very different quality (for example, significantly different quality of education and health care). To assess the effectiveness of national human capital, factor analysis methods are used using country-specific international indices and indicators. At the same time, the values ​​of the HR efficiency coefficient for different countries differ significantly, which is close to the differences in their labor productivity. The methodology for measuring national human capital is outlined in the work.

The value of Russian national human capital has been declining over the past 20 years due to low investments in it and the degradation of education, medicine, and science.

National human capital and historical development of countries and civilizations

The economic category “human capital” was formed gradually. And at the first stage, the composition of the Cheka included a small number of components - upbringing, education, knowledge, health. Moreover, for a long time, human capital was considered only a social factor of development, that is, a cost factor, from the point of view of the theory of economic growth. It was believed that investments in upbringing and education were unproductive and costly. In the second half of the 20th century, attitudes towards human capital and education gradually changed dramatically.

In fact, it was investments in education and science that in the past ensured the accelerated development of Western civilization - Europe and North America in comparison with China, India and other countries. Studies of the development of civilizations and countries in past centuries show that human capital even then was one of the main development factors that predetermined the successes of some countries and the failures of others.

Western civilization, at a certain historical stage, won the global historical competition with more ancient civilizations precisely due to the more rapid growth of human capital, including education, in the Middle Ages. IN late XVIII century, Western Europe surpassed China (and India) by one and a half times in terms of per capita GDP and twice as much in terms of population literacy. The latter circumstance, coupled with economic freedom and then democracy, became the main factor in the economic success of Europeans, as well as the United States and other Anglo-Saxon countries.

The influence of human capital on economic growth is illustrated by the example of Japan. The Land of the Rising Sun, which has followed isolationist policies for centuries, has always had a high level of human capital, including education and life expectancy. In 1913, the average number of years of education for adults in Japan was 5.4 years, in Italy - 4.8, in the USA - 8.3 years, and average life expectancy - 51 years (about the same as in Europe and the USA). In Russia, these figures were equal: 1-1.2 years and 33-35 years. Therefore, in terms of the level of starting human capital, Japan turned out to be ready in the 20th century to make a technological breakthrough and become one of the leading countries in the world.

Human capital is an independent complex intensive factor of development, in fact, the foundation of GDP growth in combination with innovation and high technology in modern conditions. The difference between this complex intensive factor and natural resources, classical labor and ordinary capital is the need for constant increased investment in it and the existence of a significant time lag in the return on these investments. In the developed countries of the world at the end of the 1990s, about 70% of all funds were invested in human capital, and only about 30% in physical capital. Moreover, the main share of investments in human capital in the advanced countries of the world is carried out by the state. And this is precisely one of its most important functions in terms of state regulation of the economy.

Analysis of the processes of change in technological structures of the economy and types of societies shows that human capital, the cycles of its growth and development are the main factors in the generation of innovative waves of development and cyclical development of the world economy and society.

Given the low level and quality of human capital, investments in high-tech industries do not yield returns. The relatively rapid successes of the Finns, Irish, Japanese, Chinese (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, China, etc.), Koreans, and newly developed European countries (Greece, Spain, Portugal) confirm the conclusion that the foundation for the formation of human capital is high culture the bulk of the population of these countries.

Structure, type and methods of assessing the value of human capital

Structure

At one time, upbringing, education and basic science were considered a costly burden on the economy. Then the understanding of their importance as factors in the development of the economy and society changed. Education, science, and mentality as components of human capital, and the Cheka itself as a whole, have become the main factor in the growth and development of the modern economy, the development of society and improving the quality of life. The core of the Cheka, of course, was and remains man. Human capital itself now determines the main share of the national wealth of countries, regions, municipalities and organizations.

With the development and complexity of the concept and economic category of “human capital,” its structure also became more complex.

Human capital is formed, first of all, through investments in improving the level and quality of life of the population. Including - in upbringing, education, health, knowledge (science), entrepreneurial ability and climate, in information support for labor, in the formation of an effective elite, in the safety of citizens and businesses and economic freedom, as well as in culture, art and other components. The Cheka is also formed due to the influx from other countries. Or it decreases due to its outflow, which is still observed in Russia. The Cheka is not a simple number of people, ordinary workers. Cheka is professionalism, knowledge, information services, health and optimism, law-abiding citizens, creativity and efficiency of the elite, etc.

Investments in the components of the Cheka constitute its structure: upbringing, education, health, science, personal safety, entrepreneurial ability, investments in training the elite, tools for intellectual work, information services, etc.

Types of Human Capital

Human capital can be divided into negative human capital (destructive) and positive (creative) human capital according to the degree of efficiency as a productive factor. Between these extreme states and the components of the total human capital, there are states and components of the human capital that are intermediate in effectiveness.

This is part of the accumulated human capital, which does not provide any useful return on investment in it for society, the economy and impedes the growth of the quality of life of the population, the development of society and the individual. Not every investment in upbringing and education is useful and increases HC. An incorrigible criminal, a hired killer is a lost investment in them for society and the family. A significant contribution to the accumulated negative human capital is made by corrupt officials, criminals, drug addicts, and excessive drinkers of alcohol. And just quitters, slackers and thieving people. And, on the contrary, a significant share of the positive part of the Cheka is made up of workaholics, professionals, and world-class specialists. Negative accumulated human capital is formed on the basis of the negative aspects of the nation’s mentality, on the low culture of the population, including its market components (in particular, work ethics and entrepreneurship). Negative traditions of government structure and the functioning of state institutions on the basis of lack of freedom and underdevelopment of civil society, on the basis of investments in pseudo-upbringing, pseudo-education and pseudo-knowledge, in pseudo-science and pseudo-culture, contribute to it. A particularly significant contribution to the negative accumulated human capital can be made by the active part of the nation - its elite, since it is they who determine the policy and development strategy of the country, and lead the nation along the path of either progress, or stagnation (stagnation) or even regression.

Negative human capital requires additional investment in human capital to change the essence of knowledge and experience. To change the educational process, to change innovation and investment potential, to change better side mentality of the population and improving its culture. In this case, additional investments are required to compensate for the negative capital accumulated in the past.

Ineffective investments in the Cheka - investments in ineffective projects or family costs to improve the quality of the components of the Cheka, associated with corruption, unprofessionalism, false or suboptimal development ideology, family dysfunction, etc. In fact, this is an investment in the negative component of the Cheka. Ineffective investments, in particular, are: - investments in those incapable of learning and perception modern knowledge individuals who give zero or insignificant results; - in an ineffective and corrupt educational process; - into a system of knowledge that is formed around a false core; - in false or ineffective R&D, projects, innovations.

The accumulated negative human capital begins to fully manifest itself during periods of bifurcations - in conditions of highly disequilibrium states. In this case, there is a transition to another coordinate system (in particular, to another economic and political space), and the Cheka can change its sign and magnitude. In particular, during the country's transition to another economic and political system, during a sharp transition to another, significantly higher technological level (for enterprises and industries). This means that the accumulated human capital, primarily in the form of accumulated mentality, experience and knowledge, as well as existing education, is not suitable for solving new problems of a more complex level, tasks within the framework of a different development paradigm. And when moving to another coordinate system, to radically different requirements for the level and quality of human capital, the accumulated old human capital becomes negative and becomes a brake on development. And new additional investments are needed in the Cheka for its modification and development.

An example of ineffective investments is the investment in chemical warfare agents (CWA) in the USSR. There were almost twice as many of them created as in the rest of the world. Billions of dollars were spent. And it was necessary to spend almost the same amount of money on the destruction and disposal of chemical agents as on their production in the past. Another close example is investment in the production of tanks in the USSR. They were also produced more than in the rest of the world. Military doctrine has changed, tanks now play a lesser role in it, and investments in them have yielded zero return. They are difficult to use for peaceful purposes and impossible to sell - they are outdated.

Let us explain once again the essence of the negativity of the unproductive component of human capital. It is determined by the fact that if a person is a bearer of knowledge that does not meet modern requirements of science, technology, production, management, social sphere, etc., then retraining him often requires much more money than training the corresponding employee with zero. Or inviting an outside employee. In other words, if the quality of work is determined by pseudo-knowledge, then a fundamental change in this quality is more expensive than the formation of qualitatively new work on a modern educational basis and on the basis of other workers. In this regard, enormous difficulties lie, in particular, on the path to creating a Russian innovation system and venture business. The main obstacle here is the negative components of human capital in terms of innovative entrepreneurial ability, mentality, experience and knowledge of Russians in this area. These same problems stand in the way of introducing innovations at Russian enterprises. So far, investments in this area have not yielded adequate returns. The share of the negative component in the accumulated human capital and, accordingly, the effectiveness of investments in human capital in different countries of the world varies greatly. The efficiency of investments in HC is characterized by the conversion coefficients of investments in HC at the country level and for regions of the Russian Federation.

Positive human capital(creative or innovative) are defined as accumulated HC, providing a useful return on investment in it in the processes of development and growth. In particular, from investments in improving and maintaining the quality of life of the population, in the growth of innovative potential and institutional potential. In the development of the education system, the growth of knowledge, the development of science, the improvement of public health. To improve the quality and availability of information. CHK is an inertial productive factor. Investments in it yield returns only after some time. The size and quality of human capital depend, first of all, on the mentality, education, knowledge and health of the population. In a historically short period of time, you can get a significant return on investment in education, knowledge, health, but not in the mentality that has been formed over centuries. At the same time, the mentality of the population can significantly reduce the transformation rates of investments in HC and even make investments in HC completely ineffective.

Passive human capital- human capital that does not contribute to the country’s development processes, to the innovative economy, and is aimed mainly at its own consumption of material goods.

The fact that HC cannot be changed in a short time, especially with a significant amount of negative accumulated HC, in essence, is main problem development of the Russian economy from the point of view of the theory of development of the Cheka.

The most important component of the Cheka is labor, its quality and productivity. The quality of work, in turn, is determined by the mentality of the population and the quality of life. Labor in Russia, unfortunately, has been and remains traditionally of low quality (that is, the products of Russian enterprises, with the exception of raw materials and primary products from them, are uncompetitive on world markets, productivity and labor intensity are low). The energy consumption of Russian products is twice or three times higher, depending on the industry, than in countries with efficient production. And labor productivity is several times lower than in developed countries. Low-productivity and low-quality labor significantly reduces the accumulated Russian human capital and reduces its quality.

Methods for assessing the value of human capital

There are various methodological approaches to calculating the cost of human capital. J. Kendrick proposed a costly method for calculating the value of human capital - based on statistical data, calculate the accumulation of investments in people. This technique turned out to be convenient for the United States, where extensive and reliable statistical data is available. J. Kendrick included in investments in the human capital the costs of the family and society for raising children until they reach working age and obtain a certain specialty, for retraining, advanced training, healthcare, labor migration, etc. He also included investments in housing in savings, household durable goods, household inventories, research and development expenditures. As a result of his calculations, he found that human capital in the 1970s accounted for more than half of the accumulated national wealth of the United States (excluding government investment). Kedrick's method made it possible to evaluate human capital accumulation at its full “replacement cost.” But it did not make it possible to calculate the “net value” of human capital (minus its “wear and tear”). This method did not contain a technique for isolating from total amount the expenditure of part of the costs used for the reproduction of human capital, for its real accumulation. The work of J. Mincer assessed the contribution of education and duration of working activity to human capital. Based on US statistics from the 1980s, Mincer obtained the dependence of the effectiveness of the Cheka on the number of years of general education, professional training and the age of the employee.

The FRASCAT methodology is based on detailed information in the United States on the costs of science since 1920. The methodology took into account the time lag between the period of R&D and the period of their implementation in accumulated human capital as an increase in the stock of knowledge and experience. The average service life of this type of capital was taken to be 18 years. The calculation results turned out to be close to the results of other researchers. The calculation algorithm was as follows. 1. Total current expenditures on science (for fundamental research, applied research, R&D). 2. Accumulation over the period. 3. Changes in inventories. 4. Consumption for the current period. 5. Gross accumulation. 6. Pure accumulation. International economic and financial institutions are showing constant interest in the problem of human capital. The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) back in the 1970s. prepared a strategy document further development humanity, where the problem of the role and importance of the human factor in global economic development was posed. In this study, methods were created for calculating some components of the human capital: the average life expectancy of one generation, the duration of the active working period, the net balance of the labor force, the cycle family life etc. The cost of human capital included the cost of education, training and preparation of new employees, the cost of advanced training, the cost of extending the period of working activity, losses due to illness, mortality, etc.

A significant contribution to the development of an expanded concept of national wealth (taking into account the contribution of the Cheka) was made by World Bank analysts, who published a series of works that substantiated this concept. The World Bank methodology summarizes the results and methods for assessing human capital of other schools and authors. The WB methodology, in particular, takes into account accumulated knowledge and other components of human capital.

Sources of HC are selected according to the groupings of costs for the relevant areas. These are science, education, culture and art, healthcare and information support.

These sources must be supplemented with the following: investments in the safety of the population and entrepreneurs - ensure the accumulation of all other components of human capital, ensure the realization of a person’s creative and professional potential, ensure the maintenance and growth of the quality of life; investments in training the elite of society; investments in entrepreneurial capacity and entrepreneurial climate - public and private investments in small businesses and venture capital. Investments in creating conditions for maintaining and developing entrepreneurial ability ensure its implementation as an economic productive resource of the country; investments in raising children; investments in changing the mentality of the population in a positive direction are investments in the culture of the population, which determines the effectiveness of human capital; investments in institutional services for the population - the country's institutions should contribute to the disclosure and implementation of the creative and professional abilities of the population, improve the quality of life of the population, especially in terms of reducing bureaucratic pressure on it; investments in knowledge associated with inviting specialists, creative people and other talented and highly professional people from other countries who significantly increase human capital; investments in the development of economic freedom, including freedom of labor migration.

The results of calculations of human capital in Russia and the CIS countries based on the cost method using the algorithm of World Bank specialists are presented in the works. Estimates of the components of human capital based on the costs of the state, families, entrepreneurs and various funds were used. They make it possible to determine the current annual costs of society for the reproduction of Russian human capital. To assess the value of real savings, the authors of the work used the calculation of the “true savings” indicator according to the methods of World Bank specialists.

Human capital in most countries exceeds half of the accumulated national wealth (the exception is OPEC countries). This reflects the high level of development of these countries. The percentage of HC is significantly influenced by the cost of natural resources. In particular, for Russia the share of the cost of natural resources is large.

It should be noted that the above methodology for assessing human capital by cost, which is quite correct for developed countries with effective government systems and efficient economies, produces a significant error for developing countries and countries with transition economies. There are certain difficulties in comparatively assessing the value of HC from different countries. The human capital of an underdeveloped country and a developed country has very different productivity per unit of capital, very different levels and quality.

This is driven by the growing income gap between people and higher education world-class and without it. According to data for 1990, Americans with primary education had a total lifetime income of $756 thousand, with higher education - $1,720 thousand. That is, Americans with higher education had an average income of $1 million more . High pay for skilled and intellectual labor is one of the main incentives for acquiring knowledge in developed countries and the main factor in their development.

In turn, the high image of intellectual labor, its enormous importance for the knowledge economy, generates powerful synergistic effects of strengthening the total intelligence of the country, industries, corporations, and ultimately, the total human capital of the country. Hence the enormous advantages of the developed countries of the world and problems for countries with catching up economies trying to join their ranks.

Modern methods for measuring the value and quality of human capital are given in the works.

Analysis modern methods measuring human capital shows that the most accurate methods for measuring it are by its share in national wealth or in GDP, as an intensive productive factor.

Human capital is the main factor in the formation of the “knowledge economy”

All these provisions are included in one form or another (usually in a truncated and scholastic manner), both in the federal innovation strategy and in regional innovation strategies, programs and laws.

Essentially, an understanding of what needs to be done to create a national IP from the point of view of theory and experience of developed countries has matured at all levels of government (those who write programs and strategies). However, there has been little real progress in solving the problem.

The creative core, the engine of IP and the economy is the venture business. Venture business is by definition a risky and highly profitable business (if successful). And in this case, the participation of the state as a regulator and investor is generally accepted. The state takes on some of the risks. The venture business is aimed at implementing major, sometimes breakthrough innovations, innovations emanating from fundamental science. Therefore, the participation of the state in it on the basis of public-private partnership is necessary and useful.

Venture capitalists - specialists, managers and business angels - are especially highly professional, gifted people who require, accordingly, comfortable living and working conditions, and high incomes. Venture capitalists - specialists and entrepreneurs - are in short supply around the world. In the context of the globalization of the world economy and open borders, business angels and other venture capitalists “fly” to where it is more convenient and profitable for them.

World experience has shown that early stage creating a venture business, highly professional venture capitalists can only be raised and formed on the basis of an effective venture school, for example, in Silicon Valley, as Israel and Singapore did. This way of establishing a venture business, in one form or another, has been used by all countries in which IE and venture business have already been created. The foundation on which innovative economies and information societies are created is the rule of law, high quality human capital, high quality of life and an efficient industrial economy, which has smoothly transformed into a post-industrial or innovative economy.

Venture business is of particular importance in the processes of creating an effective and competitive economy. High technologies allow a country with a “catching up” economy to approach the developed countries of the world in terms of per capita income in the foreseeable future. The mission of generators of high technologies and innovative products is carried out by venture technology and scientific and technical businesses.

The accumulated experience of the functioning of the Russian Venture Company, the implementation of the “Federal Target Program Electronic Russia (2002-2010)” and other private programs for the development of high technologies and the introduction of innovations, according to the assessments of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev, independent experts and analysts, showed that their activities have not yet led to any significant positive results. Venture business and innovative activity in Russia and Voronezh, in particular, are not yet economically beneficial for entrepreneurs and the state. And no favorable environment and conditions have been created for this activity.

The tasks of creating a national innovation system and the innovation sector of the economy, technological modernization of the economy, development of science and high technology were set in all federal and regional development strategies and programs. There are no changes yet. Dmitry Medvedev, at a meeting on May 15, 2009 on issues of modernization and technological development of the economy, said on this matter:

“The main problem is that, despite the correct program settings, there are no significant changes in the technological level of our economy. And this is especially obvious during the global financial and economic crisis. So far, neither the small firms that we have tried and are trying to create, nor technology parks, nor various technology transfer centers, all kinds of new forms that we are trying to use, nor the Russian venture company, nor technology-innovation special economic zones. All this basically, I must admit frankly, exists only on paper.”

Why does this happen? The answer is, in principle, not complicated. Corruption and criminalization of the economy and society reduce the effectiveness of the constructive components of human capital. Reduce the efficiency of labor, the economy, business and the state.

Innovation in a market economy is a consequence of free competition in markets. In the absence of a source of innovation generation - competition - innovations themselves are absent or are random in nature. The desire and need to make a big profit pushes the private owner to do something special, useful, which competitors do not have, so that his product is more attractive and sells better. Economic freedom, competitive markets, rule of law and private property- these are the factors that automatically generate innovation, demand for it, investment in an innovative product and pave the way between an idea and an innovative product. Outside of a market economy with free competitive markets, it is a priori impossible to create an innovative economy and self-sustaining generation of innovations and innovative goods. This has been proven by the experience of the USSR and other socialist countries in this area.

A feature of the innovative economy, venture business and information society is the fact that favorable conditions for venture business and a high quality of life must be achieved in relation to the developed countries of the world in the context of globalization and open borders and economies. Venture capitalists, as particularly highly professional specialists, work where they are most comfortable, and where favorable and competitive conditions are created for business. It was not possible to create such conditions in the USSR. And that's why he lost the science and technology competition. Current conditions are less favorable for this than they were in the USSR. The remnants of former science and education, as well as other components of the innovation system, do not correspond to the level of the knowledge economy. Therefore, Russian business angels prefer to invest money in foreign technology parks, for example, in India. In Russia, the profit on venture projects is noticeably lower, and the risks are very high. Including criminal risk.

The main reasons for the slowdown in scientific, technical and innovative activity in Russia are the low quality of human capital and an unfavorable, depressing environment for innovation activity. The quality of all components of Russian human capital has decreased: education, science, security of citizens and businesses, elite, specialists. And for venture business and the innovation economy, we must first build a reliable foundation.

Notes

1. Konstantinov Ilya. Human capital and strategy of national projects
2. Nesterov L., Ashirova G. National wealth and human capital. // VE, 2003, No. 2.
3. Korchagin Yu. A. Broad concept of human capital. - Voronezh: TsIRE, 2009.
4. SHULGINA E. V. DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN POTENTIAL. Moscow Business School, Moscow, Russia
5. Shultz T. Human Capital in the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. - N.Y., 1968, vol. 6.
6. Becker, Gary S. Human Capital. - N.Y.: Columbia University Press, 1964.
7. Kendrick J. The total capital of the United States and its functioning. - M.: Progress, 1976
8. Korchagin Yu. A. Investment strategy. - Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 2006 ISBN 5-222-08440-X
9. Korchagin Yu. A. Russian human capital: a factor of development or degradation? - Voronezh: TsIRE, 2005.
10. Fischer S., Dornbusch R., Schmalenzi R. Economic theory. - M., Unity, 2002.
11. “The Economics of Resources and the Resources of Economics” (1974).
12. Kendrick J. Economic growth and capital formation. Questions of Economics, 1976, No. 11.

Man, it's creative qualities, powers and abilities with the help of which he transforms himself and the world, have traditionally occupied a central place in economic and social sciences. At the same time, the accelerated development of the material and technical base of production associated with the industrial revolution overshadowed the problems of human development and his productive abilities, creating the illusion of the superiority of physical capital in ensuring economic growth. As a consequence of this, for many years human productive abilities were considered and assessed as one of the quantitative factors of production. The task was only to successfully combine labor, fixed and working capital.

The evolutionary development of society is accompanied by the evolution of human status in the economic system of society. Labor, which is a conscious, purposeful and effective activity, is the most essential part of human life, and concepts in this area are being transformed most dynamically.

At the stage of the emergence of capitalism, the basic concept for the development of production was the concept of “labor power”, or the ability to work, “the totality of physical and spiritual abilities possessed by the organism, the living personality of a person, and which are put into action by him whenever he produces any use values." A person here was considered as a means of labor, as a productive force, and his abilities were assessed only in the process of producing economic goods. Physical and spiritual abilities had a qualitative dimension, but were not structurally represented and were assessed in simplified quantitative terms.

With the increasing role of scientific and technological progress in economic growth, the attitude of Western economists to the problems of reproduction of the labor force has changed. The focus of attention of scientists has focused on the problems of creating a qualitatively new workforce, while previously the main problems were the problems of using this workforce. The comprehensive automation of production processes and the commissioning of mechanisms that were difficult to manage required a revision of the attitude towards the “basic material”, which gave rise to the concept of “human resources”, which expresses a different essence and a different quality of labor and labor relations. Human resources include the level of education, creativity and potential for the comprehensive development of employees, their health status, general culture and morality, improvement of labor relations, motivation, entrepreneurship, etc.

Structural changes in the total labor force, interest in factors of economic growth and economic dynamics were the reason for the emergence and development of the theory of human capital.

Under the influence of the scientific and technological revolution, automation and mechanization of labor, transformation of the social structure of society, increasing in these conditions the importance of qualifications, the level of education of each person individually and the population as a whole, the traditional point of view on the strict distinction between labor as the primary factor of production and capital as a factor derivative, inherited from the industrial revolution, has lost its original meaning.

In this regard, ideas about the ability to work itself are modified. The concept of “labor force” no longer fully expresses the increased role of a person in the economy, who no longer simply influences material capital, but manages it; he is required not just to have professional knowledge, but to be able to make informed decisions.

A person’s abilities are the result of purposeful efforts made by both the owner himself and the people around him. Therefore, it can be argued that any person contains a certain amount of past labor, which is used by him and serves as a kind of capital, i.e., unlike labor power, which is sold or bought in the wage labor system, human capital is advanced and reimbursed as fixed capital, requiring significant investments in the process of its formation and development.

Taking into account the intangible nature and multidimensionality of human capital, various authors freely formulate the concept of human capital and place ambiguous emphasis on its individual components: some tend to focus on the functional side of human capital, i.e., its ability to generate income, while others provide it essential characteristic - as a form of personal factor of production. In almost all definitions after the 60s. in the twentieth century the principle of an expanded interpretation of human capital is observed: not only realizable knowledge, skills and abilities, but also potential ones (including the possibility of acquiring them); not only external stimulation, but also internal motivation of the employee, which, in essence, does not change the economic content of human capital.

Human capital can be most fully characterized as follows: it is innate, formed as a result of investments and accumulated a certain level of health, education, skills, abilities, motivations, energy, cultural development, both a specific individual, a group of people, and society as a whole, which are expediently used in one or another sphere of social reproduction, contribute to economic growth and influence the amount of income of their owner.

Human capital, being part of total capital, is a combination of its constituent elements, i.e., it has its own internal structure.

Most economists form the structure of human capital according to the cost principle, based on various types of investments in human capital.

As a result, I. V. Ilyinsky identifies the following components: educational capital, health capital and cultural capital.

F. Neumann considers the combination of the following four components to be the main components of human capital: cultural and ethnic characteristics; general education; professional education; key qualifications.

E.V. Vankevich highlights: education and vocational training, awareness; physiological characteristics of the individual and health status; professional and geographic mobility; psychological characteristics personality, driving needs, motivation, values.

Depending on the degree of generalization of human capital in its structure, the following components can be identified: individual, collective and social. The first two are considered at the micro level, as the human capital of an individual and a group of people united according to a certain characteristic: the team of a company, members of a socio-cultural group, etc. The social component is human capital at the macro level; it represents the entire human capital accumulated by society, which, in turn, is part of the national wealth, a strategic resource and a factor in economic growth.

The most generalized approach to determining the components of human capital is the approach of Yu.G. Bychenko, according to which the structural structure of human capital is as follows:

• - biological human capital - the value level of physical abilities to perform labor operations, the level of public health;
• - cultural human capital - a set of intellectual abilities, education, abilities, skills, moral qualities, qualification training of individuals who are used or can be used in work and legitimize the possession of status and power.

Biological human capital consists of two parts: one part is hereditary, the other is acquired. Throughout an individual's life, wear and tear of this capital occurs, accelerating more and more with age (death must be understood as a complete depreciation of the health fund). The implementation of investments related to health protection is capable of only strictly limited development of the biological capital of the employee. Its main purpose is to increase the period of active life of the individual.

Cultural capital is a person’s linguistic and cultural competence, wealth in the form of knowledge or ideas that legitimize status and power, support the established social order, the hierarchy existing in society. The cultural capital of an individual is characterized by the following indicators: intellectual culture (intellectual capital), educational culture (educational capital), moral culture (moral capital), symbolic culture (symbolic capital), social culture (social capital).

Reproduction of human capital requires significant costs and various types of resources from both the individual and society ( government agencies, private firms, families, etc.). Emphasizing the similarity of such costs to investments in other types of capital, economists refer to them as investments in human capital. The sources of such investments are the costs of employers, government budget expenditures, and individual expenditures of citizens.

Thus, human capital is a very important type of investment in a modern economy.

Human capital differs markedly from physical capital, firstly, in that it is inseparable from a person, it cannot be bought, it can only be taken or provided for use under certain conditions, and, secondly, in that knowledge and skills can be acquired and without additional investments, but in practice, through on-the-job training. At the same time, human capital, like physical capital, is subject to physical and moral wear and tear: human capabilities (physical, mental, psychological, etc.) may decline over time, knowledge may become scarce, its bearer may degrade, and the knowledge itself simply becomes obsolete

The following types of human capital are distinguished.

Total human capital- this is knowledge and skills, regardless of where they were acquired, they can be used in other workplaces.

Specific human capital is knowledge and skills that have value where they are obtained.

The production of general human capital is ensured by a system of formal education, including general and special education, which improves the quality, level and stock of human knowledge. Specific human capital is formed by spending on training to train workers directly on the job.

Human capital can be positive or negative.

Positive human capital is defined as accumulated human capital that provides a useful return on investment.

Negative human capital is the portion of accumulated human capital that does not provide any useful return on investment.

The accumulation of human capital depends on the human potential available in a given society. To assess it, the currently widely used human development index (HDI) is used, which characterizes different aspects of the development of society. The HDI of a country or region reflects the three leading factors of life: income, longevity, and education.

Introduction

Human capital is a set of knowledge, skills and abilities used to meet the diverse needs of an individual and society as a whole. Application of the concept of “human capital” allows us to understand the role social institutions, find out not only social parameters, but also conduct economic analysis influence of the social factor on the market economy. In the 20th century, the theory of “human capital” was developed. According to this theory, improving the qualitative characteristics of a person in the areas of education and health care ensures the creation of durable economic resources. Education transforms the labor force, giving it the ability to perform highly skilled work, and healthcare increases the duration and intensity of use of the individual’s accumulated ability to work. Based on these premises, the productive qualities and characteristics of the worker were recognized as a special form of capital, since they, like other types of capitalized resources, ensure that their owner receives certain income over a period of time.

In the conditions of the modern economy, during the economic crisis, the topic of human capital is especially important and relevant, since in the Republic of Belarus people are the most important resource, as noted by President A.G. Lukashenko at a press conference in October 2009. The new type of worker must receive continuous education throughout his life. Investments in people and their environment allow for more efficient use of society's economic resources. The phenomenon of “human capital” acts as an integral attribute of a market economy.

In this work, I revealed the essence of human capital, examined its structure and main characteristics, studied approaches to the concept of human capital and methods for assessing it. I examined the role and qualitative aspects of the state of human capital in Belarus and based on this I made conclusions about what needs to be changed in order to increase the material and educational level of the population, labor productivity, and attract attention younger generation to scientific activities, the development of which will have a good impact on the general condition of the state.

Human capital: concept, main characteristics

Definition of the essence of human capital

The theory of human capital has a far from simple and very controversial history. On the one hand, human capital as an objective economic phenomenon has been recognized since the times of A. Smith, K. Marx and many other representatives of classical and postclassical economic theory. Smith wrote that fixed capital consists not only of machinery and equipment, but also of the useful abilities of the members of society, the acquisition of which always requires actual costs, which represent fixed capital. K. Marx notes that from the point of view of the direct production process, saving labor time can be considered as the production of fixed capital, and this fixed capital is understood as the person himself. On the other hand, for a long period of time, theoretical economists used in their research not the concept of “human capital”, but categories such as “labor” and “labor force”. Human capital was and is recognized as objective reality existing in the world economic phenomena, but human capital has not yet become a subjective reality in the corresponding theoretical constructs and concepts of the majority of representatives of fundamental theoretical science. In addition, even among the few representatives of economic theory of the past and present, there is no agreement even on the key methodological provisions characterizing human capital as a complex and contradictory phenomenon. The term “human capital” first appeared in the works of Theodore Schultz, an economist interested in the difficult situation of underdeveloped countries. Schultz stated that improving the well-being of poor people did not depend on land, technology, or their efforts, but rather on knowledge. He called this qualitative aspect of the economy "human capital." Schultz, who received the Nobel Prize in 1979, proposed the following definition: “All human abilities are either innate or acquired. Each person is born with an individual set of genes that determines his innate abilities. Valuable qualities acquired by a person, which can be enhanced by appropriate investments, we We call it human capital." He considered human capital as the costs accumulated in the country for the reproduction of labor force, regardless of the source of their coverage. The results of such investments are the accumulation of people’s ability to work, their creative activity in society, the maintenance of people’s very lives, health, etc. He also substantiated the need for an expanded interpretation of a number of categories of reproduction, especially accumulation, suggesting that of the product produced in society, not 35-50% is no longer used for the accumulation of the human factor, as followed from most theories of reproduction in the 20th century, but? its total size.

A follower of Theodore Schultz was Gary Becker, who developed this idea, justifying the effectiveness of investments in human capital and formulating an economic approach to human behavior.

There are a huge number of approaches to research and an abundance of interpretations of the essence of human capital. If we try to classify the interpretations of human capital existing in modern economic literature, they can be divided into the following varieties: a) “predicative”, b) “resource”, c) “eclectic”.

Predicative interpretations of the essence of human capital are formulations that only come into contact with the sphere of human capital, but do not penetrate in depth, do not identify and do not reflect the real essence of the problem.

Resource-based interpretations of the essence of human capital are the most common in economic literature. The meaning of “resource” definitions of human capital is that here we are not talking about capital as actualized resources, but directly about the resources themselves, which are just potential, and not a fact of creative activity.

The eclectic characteristics of the essence and related content of human capital absorb various disjointed provisions and interpretations of the phenomenon under consideration. In particular, human capital is defined here simultaneously as an element of national wealth, as part of the economic resources of the individual, organization and society as a whole, as the process of creating the required goods, etc.

The presented interpretations of the essence of human capital are the object of criticism, since they do not reflect the qualitative certainty of the phenomenon under consideration. At the same time, these definitions and characteristics of human capital are very useful from the point of view of identifying its socio-economic content, as well as studying various aspects of the formation and development of this capital. But, in order to understand what the qualitative definition of human capital is and how this complex socio-economic phenomenon should be interpreted in connection with this, it is necessary to carry out a research “ascent” from “general” to “special”.

Let's consider the “general” in the characteristics of human capital. If capital as such represents any value directly used to create vital goods, then a person should be considered as a capital most important asset, as a basic value, without which it is practically impossible to create any vital good. From the “general” point of view, the essence of human capital lies in its ability to be used to create certain goods; it is a value that can ensure the creation of other values. “Special” in human capital lies in the fact that the bearer of creating value is the individual herself, on whose cultural level and education, motivation and attitudes, decisions and actions depends not only the actualization of human forces and their transformation into a creative, capital value, but also directly any creative process. Only a person sets himself and other types of inanimate capital in motion; a person organizes and manages the creative process, giving it direction and filling it with a certain content. This circumstance reveals the first, initial feature of human capital: in the system of national capital it is basic, integrating. Direct investments in human capital are indirect investments in the natural and material capital of the nation. The importance of human capital as an integrator of all types of capital lies in the creation of a technological linkage of existing factors of production, in the formation of a favorable socio-economic and institutional environment that ensures the most effective use of the elements of natural and material capital involved.

The most important feature of human capital is its quality of self-growth, i.e. human capital, considered in unity with the person himself, grows itself, forms and reproduces the necessary creative qualities and characteristics. The dynamics, complexities and contradictions of the modern reproduction process, as well as the growing and changing requirements for the creation of vital goods, necessitate not only accelerated, but also advanced, diversified development of human capital.

The considered features of human capital are reduced to one more specific property, which appears in the form of the ability of this capital to internally systematize all the qualitative characteristics and quantitative properties of the individual; with the direct creative use of human capital, a system of human properties works, the individual is realized as such, and not just one or two of its characteristic features.

The most important modern feature of human capital is that the purchase and sale of human abilities for certain creative activities carried out on the human capital market is less and less reflected and explained by the principle of equivalent exchange, and is increasingly acquiring an external character. Identification of the external nature of human interactions and the development of organization members, as well as the presence of a rational principle in human capital as such, allows us to highlight another of its features as a factor of production. This feature lies in the fact that human capital is the only factor of production that, in the process of use, is simultaneously consumed and developed. Thus, human capital acquires a multiplicative, or “double” value. The multiplier effect is that as a result of the production process with the aim of creating some kind of life benefit, the creative value of human capital “at the output” exceeds its value “at the input”. This explains the constantly growing efficiency of investments in human capital, with the relatively declining effectiveness of investments in natural and material capital.

The most important feature of human capital is its ability to create wealth without the participation of natural and material capital. Such benefits are, first of all, new knowledge necessary for human development.

Historical-economic and logical-epistemological analysis of existing interpretations of human capital, as well as identifying the characteristics of human capital as a factor of production allows us to clarify the definition of the essence of human capital, which is understood as a specific value represented by a system of constantly developing, creatively oriented and in demand human properties, conscious and purposeful the use of which ensures the expanded reproduction of vital benefits required for development.

In modern economic literature, the categories “human capital”, “labor”, “labor” are often considered as factors of production. Meanwhile, the identified essence of human capital allows us to say that all these categories are multi-level. The workforce represents a certain human resource, potential readiness for creative activity. Human capital expresses a real readiness for the creative use of a certain combination of human knowledge and abilities. Labor is the materialization of this real readiness into the fact of activity to create this or that good.

The use of the concept of “human capital” allows us to understand the role of social institutions, to find out not only social parameters, but also to conduct an economic analysis of the influence of the social factor on the market economy. Becker in his work “Human Capital” introduces the concept of “special human capital”, that is, this means only those skills that are of interest to any one company, any one type of activity. O. Toffler introduces the concept of “symbolic capital - knowledge”, which, unlike traditional forms of capital, is inexhaustible and at the same time accessible to an infinite number of users without restrictions.