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 economic approach to human behavior.
Human capital in a broad sense, it is an intensive productive factor of economic development, development of 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- 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:
- Individual human capital.
- Human capital of the company.
- 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 the 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. 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 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 and led to the establishment of human capital as the main productive and social factor in the development of the 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 of 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 Cheka, a successful development paradigm for the United States and leading European countries is being formed and improved. 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 human capital as an economic category is constantly expanding along with the development of the global information community and the 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 for intellectual and managerial work, living environment and labor 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 the 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 and 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 XX and XXI 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 share of the G7 countries and the EEC is billing period accounted for 59% of the world's HC, 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 over 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 when comparative assessment the value of the human capital of 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. At the end of the 18th 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, Japan, in terms of the level of starting human capital, was ready to XX century 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 negative aspects mentality of the nation, 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 for the better the mentality of the population and improve 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 individuals incapable of learning and perceiving modern knowledge, which give zero or insignificant results; - 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, when a country transitions to another economic and political system, with 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 - outdated.
Let us once again explain 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 correspond modern requirements science, engineering, technology, production, management, social sphere, etc., then retraining him often requires much more money than training the corresponding employee from scratch. 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 HC and, accordingly, the effectiveness of investments in HC in various countries the world is very different. 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, aimed mainly at own consumption material goods.
The fact that the human capital cannot be changed in a short time, especially with a significant amount of negative accumulated human capital, in essence, is the main problem in the development of the Russian economy from the point of view of the theory of human capital development.
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). Energy consumption of Russian products is twice - 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 Cheka the costs of the family and society for raising children until they reach working age and obtaining a certain specialty, for retraining, advanced training, healthcare, and migration work force etc. In savings he also included investments in housing, durable household goods, household stocks of goods, expenses for Scientific research and development. 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 separating from the total amount of costs the part of the costs used for the reproduction of human capital for its actual 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 (per basic 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 document on the strategy for the further development of mankind, which raised the problem of the role and importance of the human factor in global economic development. This study created methods for calculating some components of human capital: the average life expectancy of one generation, the duration of the active working period, the net balance of the labor force, the family life cycle, etc. The cost of human capital included the cost of education, training and training of new workers, the cost of advanced training , costs of extending the working period, 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 positive side- this is an investment 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 with and without world-class higher education. According to 1990 data, Americans with primary education the total income received throughout life was $756 thousand, with higher education - $1720 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 work, its great value 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.
An analysis of modern methods for 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 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 at the early stage of creating a venture business, highly professional venture capitalists can be raised and formed only 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 has special meaning 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-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 they are not created for this activity favorable environment and conditions.
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 software settings, there are no significant changes in the technological level of our economy does not happen. 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 kinds of 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 have shown serious results. 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, the rule of law and private property 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 innovation economy, it would be necessary to first build reliable foundation.
Notes
- Konstantinov Ilya. Human capital and strategy of national projects
- Nesterov L., Ashirova G. National wealth and human capital. // VE, 2003, No. 2.
- Korchagin Yu. A. Broad concept of human capital. - Voronezh: TsIRE, 2009.
- SHULGINA E. V. DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN POTENTIAL. Moscow Business School, Moscow, Russia
- Shultz T. Human Capital in the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. - N.Y., 1968, vol. 6.
- Becker, Gary S. Human Capital. - N.Y.: Columbia University Press, 1964.
- Kendrick J. The total capital of the United States and its functioning. - M.: Progress, 1976
- Korchagin Yu. A. Investment strategy. - Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 2006 ISBN 5-222-08440-X
- Korchagin Yu. A. Russian human capital: a factor of development or degradation? - Voronezh: TsIRE, 2005.
- Fischer S., Dornbusch R., Schmalenzi R. Economic theory. - M., Unity, 2002.
- “The Economics of Resources and the Resources of Economics” (1974).
- Kendrick J. Economic growth and capital formation. Questions of Economics, 1976, No. 11.
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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, stocks 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).
Table 1.1 National wealth (capital)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 in education, qualifications, health, improvement of living conditions, increase and expansion of 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 daily 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 poorly connected with each other and did not represent a holistic and organized scientific system of 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 personnel management specialists draw up job descriptions, tests for knowledge of 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 which scientifically based observations and measurements of all resources are organized, various systems indicators characterizing certain aspects of the human capital of households and enterprises.
The system of indicators characterizing human capital should include the following information:- 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.;
- 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;
- Efficient use of human, financial and non-financial potential;
- 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 modernization of statistics and management as the foundations management activities, in improving and expanding observations and methods for measuring not only resources and costs, but also human capital, more precisely 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.
Introduction
1.2 Domestic and international experience human capital management
Chapter 2. Forms, ways and methods of increasing the efficiency of human capital management of an organization
2.1 Improvement framework
2.2 Improving the selection and professional development of human capital
2.3 Improving the style and motivation of human capital management
Conclusion
List of sources used
Applications
Introduction
The relevance of the topic is determined by the need for current conditions transition to market relations, search for the best management decisions, improving management in organizations. Consideration of ways to analyze the quality of human capital, as well as tracking paths, is aimed at increasing the level of service and production efficiency in organizations. The development of market relations causes the emergence of new tasks, which necessitates improving the organization's personnel management. It is important for enterprise managers to understand the need to constantly improve human capital management, pay attention to its expansion, reconstruction of premises, introduction of the latest technologies, etc.
The purpose of this work is to develop measures to improve the efficiency of human capital management.
In accordance with the goal, the main objectives of this work are:
Give the concept of human capital in an organization.
Conduct a comparative analysis between human capital management in Russia and in the World.
Develop a structure for improving the quality of human capital management.
Describe methods for improving human capital.
Develop a system of motivation for the organization’s personnel.
Develop proposals for improving the organization’s personnel.
Evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed measures.
The object of research in the work is human capital in the organization. The subject of the study is the development of personnel management methods.
The theoretical and methodological basis of this study were the concepts and hypotheses presented and substantiated in classical and modern works of domestic and foreign economists implementing marketing and management approaches to the analysis of human capital.
The regulatory framework was made up of the Laws of the Russian Federation, legislative and regulatory acts of the President and the Government of Russia, as well as other official documents and materials in their critical understanding.
The empirical basis of the study was books, the study of the main trends in management decision-making in the materials of monographic works, current publications and periodicals.
Instrumental and methodological apparatus of research. When analyzing and summarizing practical and theoretical material, methods of comparison, structural and functional analysis, and statistical methods were used.
The thesis consists of an introduction, three chapters, a conclusion, and a list of sources used.
The introduction substantiates the relevance of this topic and defines the purpose and main objectives of the study.
The list of sources used contains 21 titles.
The appendix contains graphs and drawings.
Chapter 1. The essence of human capital in an organization
1.1 Human capital as an object of research
The term " human capital" first appeared in the works of Theodore Schultz ( Theodore Schultz) an economist interested in the plight 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. Acquired by the person valuable qualities, which can be strengthened by appropriate investments, we call human capital."
In business terms, human capital can be described as a combination of the following factors.
The qualities that a person brings to his work: intelligence, energy, positivity, reliability, dedication.
A person’s ability to learn: talent, imagination, creative personality, ingenuity (“how to do things”).
Human motivations for sharing information and knowledge: team spirit and goal orientation.
In management, the human component is the most burdensome of all assets. The almost limitless variety and unpredictability of people makes them incredibly difficult to evaluate, much more difficult than any electromechanical assembly that comes with prescribed practical specifications. However, humans are the only element with the ability to produce value. All other variables - money and its "relative" credit, raw materials, factories, equipment and energy - can only offer inert potentials. By their nature they do not add anything and cannot add anything until a person, be it the lowest skilled worker, the most skillful professional or the highest level manager, does not use this potential by making it work.
We have clear and abundant evidence that an organization that creates the best possible work environment will grow successfully, retain the most productive employees and have the most loyal customers.
One of the main driving forces in getting work done is knowledge. Knowing how successful we are is directly related to satisfaction with the work we do. The only thing that gives us more pleasure than contemplating our own achievements is when our boss sees the results of our work and praises us for a job well done.
To maintain a competitive position in the 21st century marketplace, management will have to find methods to increase its awareness of people. The most cost-effective and lasting solution to the talent shortage is to help every person become more productive. This obliges management to figure out how to invest in human performance potential. In the industrial era, the tools of production impact raw materials. In post-industrial, production tools influence information, which, in turn, tells us how and when to change the relevant information and services. The use of electronic technologies to produce useful data and manipulate it quickly is just beginning. The production cycle begins to close when people find out exactly what information they need, where, when, in what form and from whom. When people learn what this information means, the circle is completed and productivity increases. The ability to analyze and interpret turns data into information and sometimes into awareness. This is the only real way to solve the talent shortage. Back then, decades ago, Schultz was right.
IN last years 20th-century management believed that people, not money, buildings or technology, were the decisive hallmark of a successful enterprise. As we move into the new millennium and live in a knowledge-based economy, it becomes impossible to deny that people are the source of profit. Any assets of organizations other than people are inactive; they are passive resources that require human intervention to produce value.
The key to maintaining a company's profitability or a healthy economy is workforce productivity, human capital. For the American economy, where over half of GDP comes from the information sector, it is clear that knowledgeable people are the driving force.
The stock market recognized the leverage of human knowledge, i.e. the ratio of the value of a company's human capital to its own funds, rewarding with growth market value for service and technology, those companies that exceed their book value many times over. Leverage is the use of certain fixed assets to increase the return on investment or sales.
To understand the essence of human capital in an organization, it is initially necessary to define human capital in its theoretical understanding.
In economics, human capital is the ability of people to participate in the production process.
Human capital can be divided into several types:
The totality of a person's mental and physical properties that can be used in various jobs, in various industries, and in various enterprises is called Total Human Capital.
Those skills and knowledge that a person can apply only in one workplace and only in a single organization specialized in the production of certain products are called specific human skills.
The totality of such characteristics of a person as his professionalism, level of qualifications, level of education, experience is called intellectual human capital.
Thus, human capital is usually understood as the entire set of skills, experience, and abilities of a person that he uses to produce material goods and make profit. However, in a broader understanding of the term human capital, it should be taken into account that it includes a much larger number of factors:
Real existing skills that a person possesses and uses for the production process;
innovative human capital
Currently, humanity is witnessing a new stage in the global evolution of world civilization - the transition to a post-industrial society, the main features of which are:
intellectualization of the technologies used, providing a sharp increase in labor productivity:
growth of knowledge intensity of products;
a significant increase in the importance of activities related to the production, storage and transfer of knowledge;
globalization of the world economy and fierce competition, causing a shortening of the product life cycle and the active introduction of intellectual resources, which, in turn, act important factor ensuring the competitiveness of the economy.
That is, at present, intellectual resources, based on the quality of the enterprise’s labor potential, come first.
For a number of types of products, most of the value is created at the stage not so much of material production as of marketing, sales, R&D and service. In many organizations, an increasing part of the effect is achieved as a result of the application of special knowledge, extensive staff training and interaction with partners and contractors.
Today, knowledge penetrates into all areas and stages of the economic process; it is already difficult to separate it from a product or service. At the same time, the innovation cycle is decreasing and the flow of innovations is becoming denser. In many, primarily developed countries, the socio-economic structure of society is changing. Changes have occurred not only in the education system, scientific institutes, government bodies, but in all industries and areas of activity.
Knowledge ceases to be a relatively independent object of economic management, which was traditionally limited mainly to the sphere of R&D. New knowledge concerns not only technological processes, but also new management methods, research processes for specific markets, which forces us to look at the use of knowledge more broadly.
Intellectual work, special knowledge and communications become factors not only in creating added value, but also in competitiveness and economic development of organizations.
Practice shows that in any economic system human capabilities are decisive in achieving set goals. The study of man as a living carrier of knowledge, creative abilities and forces with the help of which he transforms himself and the world, was, is and will be the central problem of world scientific thought. After all, previously, regardless of the type of socio-economic formation, the economy functioned on the same group of factors, but today knowledge has become not only an independent factor of production, but also the main one in the entire system of factors.
Nowadays the concept of “human capital” is widely used in scientific and practical activities.
Human capital is a term denoting the accumulated knowledge, skills and mastery that an employee possesses and which he acquires through general and special education, professional training, and production experience. The concept of human capital was first put forward by the American economist G. Becker in 1960.
It is important to note that the concepts of “human capital” and “human resources” are not identical. Human resources can potentially become capital in the case when they generate real income and create wealth, that is, if a person has the opportunity to engage himself in social production through his own organized activities or the sale of his labor to an employer (private, collective, state). It is on this basis that it is advisable to use your own skills, knowledge, physical abilities and energy. To transform human resources into operating capital, it is necessary certain conditions, which would ensure the realization of human potential in the results of activities (expressed in commodity form).
Human capital as a product of production represents the knowledge and labor skills that a person acquires in the process of education and work. It, like any other type of capital, has the ability to accumulate. The accumulation of human capital begins from school age and continues until graduation, during retraining and advanced training courses. As a rule, the period of investment in human capital is much longer than in physical capital. For the latter, it averages 1-5 years, and for such a form of investment in a person as education, the investment period can reach 12-20 years. Creating human capital requires teachers, textbooks, manuals, libraries, databases and time for training. Sometimes students (in the broad sense - people who study) are seen as a kind of workers involved in the production of human capital that will be used in the future.
Thus, the main characteristics of human capital should be considered:
human capital, like physical capital, increases the ability of society to produce new goods and services;
human capital, like physical capital, is the result of the production process;
human capital, like physical capital, is capable of generating income over a certain period of time.
At the same time, human capital is a specific type of capital. Unlike physical capital, which has a material expression, human capital in the form of knowledge, abilities, labor and life skills cannot be seen or felt. In this regard, depreciation and amortization of human capital (accumulated scientific and educational potential) have significant differences from how it happens with material resources. On initial stage the functioning of human capital due to gradual physical maturity and accumulation of production experience, the economic value of the stock of knowledge, abilities and labor skills does not decrease, as happens with physical capital, but, on the contrary, increases. The process of depreciation of human capital occurs with the opposite sign. Over time, there is a reverse process of increasing the value of intellectual capital. The accumulation of such a human capital asset as production experience continues continuously.
Traditional resources are predominantly limited. Information resources reproduced by people are unlimited. An example of this is the Internet. Traditional resources can be replicated with at great expense: To make another car, it is necessary to spend almost the same amount of labor and capital as was spent on the production of the previous car. At the same time, the costs of producing the first copy, distributed over the total production of the entire series, per one car, are a relatively small amount. When replicating an information resource, the situation is the opposite: the cost of the process of copying information is, as a rule, negligible. In this regard, the issue of storage, systematization and effective use already accumulated information in order to obtain the maximum of newly created value and useful effect from each element of knowledge.
In this context, it is also important to distinguish between the concepts of “knowledge” and “human capital”. Knowledge can be thought of as “non-living” human capital. To transform it into “living” human capital, a certain amount of effort is required to transform these ideas into practical work and life skills of people. Figuratively speaking, knowledge is a textbook by which human resources are “trained” in order to turn into human capital. It is this preparation that requires certain expenditure of resources. Knowledge without specific application in Everyday life"dead". Gaining new knowledge and not applying it in practice is like plowing a field and not sowing it.
Understanding human capital as a set of socially expedient production and general human knowledge, skills, and abilities provides the basis for such important generalizations. Firstly, it is a combination of natural abilities and human energy with acquired (with certain costs and efforts) general educational and professional knowledge. This combination occurs in the process of forming human capital through all types of acquisition of new knowledge based on certain investments (investments). 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 efficiency. Thirdly, this is a stock of skills, knowledge, abilities that accumulates in the process of real production activities, and its appropriate use in this activity naturally leads to an increase in labor productivity and earnings (profits) of the employee and, accordingly, to an increase in national income.
The features of a knowledge-based economy are determined by the fact that this economy largely uses information resources, which have a number of specific features that distinguish them from traditional resources.
A comparison of traditional resources with information ones shows that the former are characterized, as a rule, by material flows and stocks, while knowledge and information are characterized by intangible flows and stocks. Knowledge increases if it is transferred, replicated and used and, conversely, if it is not used, it decreases and is resolved. In this they differ from fixed assets, which the more they are used, the more they wear out, reducing their value.
A traditional resource is usually a private good, i.e. a good whose consumption by one consumer excludes its consumption by another consumer. An information resource most often acts as a public good, the consumption of which by one consumer does not exclude its consumption by others. In other words, knowledge and information are inalienable.
It should be especially noted that personal motivation is a very important and necessary condition for the process of circulation (investment formation, use, accumulation, high-quality reproduction and reinvestment) of human capital to be completely complete. In this process, a qualitative renewal of human capital occurs, in which an increase in the level of knowledge and practical skills of people is accompanied by the development of opportunities for their practical implementation. Due to this, the individual incomes of the owners of human capital increase and the national income of the country increases, since new knowledge that finds application in everyday practical life:
increase a person’s individual productivity, which makes him able to perform work that has greater social value and, accordingly, is higher rewarded;
develop business skills and entrepreneurship in a person, which, in turn, gives him the ability to make informed (rational) decisions;
increase sensitivity to the perception of new scientific developments, reducing the time for their introduction into production and stimulating the development of new ideas;
develop intelligence and individual abilities to generate new technological ideas and rational organization of production in accordance with specific business conditions.
Consequently, due to these key factors of progress inherent in man himself, it is possible to create a new economic basis sustainable development (economic, environmental and social), which can be maintained over a long period of time.
Knowledge has always been a condition for the development of production. The uniqueness of the modern stage of economic development lies in the accumulation by humanity of knowledge in such quantities that it has moved to a new qualitative state and turned into the main factor of production.
However, it should be noted that the importance of capital invested in material resources does not disappear completely, but instead its relative importance decreases. This is manifested in the fact that the value of a particular economic structure in any sphere of social production (including agriculture), the further, the less it is determined by material assets: the size of land ownership, industrial buildings, machines, equipment. To an increasing extent, their value is formed by “intangible resources” - ideas, entrepreneurship and qualifications of personnel, flexibility of thinking and experience in interacting with partners, strategic combination of interests, etc. In modern conditions, production can be much cheaper than before. The main thing that resources are spent on is the generation of new ideas, search and processing of information, search for new knowledge and their rapid practical application for production and profit.
It is precisely because humanity has really realized and felt the effect of the law of limited material resources, which encourages a person to use available resources with maximum efficiency to satisfy constantly growing needs, the role of human capital is increasing. This is the main reason for the increasing importance of human capital in economic growth, since maximizing the returns from the use of limited resources requires enormous human capabilities, creativity, knowledge and effort.
10.1 The emergence and development of the theory of human capital
10.2 Concept of human capital
10.3 Human capital assessment
10.4 Motivation and its impact on the formation of human capital
10.1 The emergence and development of the theory of human capital
Elements of the theory of human capital have existed since ancient times, when the first knowledge and education system were formed. The first attempt to evaluate human capital was made by one of the founders of Western political economy, U. Petit, in his work “Political Arithmetic” (1690). He noted that the wealth of society depends on the nature of people's occupations, distinguishing between useless activities and activities that improve people's skills and dispose them to one or another type of activity, which in itself is of great importance. V. Petty also saw great benefits in public education. His point of view was that “schools and universities should be so organized as to prevent the ambitions of privileged parents from swamping these institutions with dullards, and so that the truly able may be selected as pupils.
A. Smith, in his “Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations” (1776), considered the productive qualities of a worker as the main engine of economic progress. A. Smith wrote that increasing the productivity of useful labor depends entirely on increasing the dexterity and skill of the worker, and then on improving the machines and tools with which he worked. A. Smith believed that fixed capital consists of machines and other instruments of labor, buildings, land, and the acquired and useful abilities of all residents and members of society. He drew attention to the fact that the acquisition of such abilities, including also the maintenance of their owner during his upbringing, training or apprenticeship, always requires real costs, which represent fixed capital, as if realized in his personality. The main idea of his research, which is one of the key ones in the theory of human capital, is that costs associated with productive investments in people contribute to increased productivity and are recovered along with profits.
At the end of the XIX – XX centuries. such economists as J. McCulloch, J.B. Say, J. Mill, N. Senior, believed that the ability to work acquired by a person should be considered as capital in its “human” form. Thus, back in 1870, J.R. McCulloch clearly defined man as capital. In his opinion, instead of capital being understood as a part of the production of industry, unnatural to man, which could be made useful to support it and contribute to production, there does not seem to be any justifiable reason why man himself should not be considered as such, and there are many reasons why it can be considered as a formable part of the national wealth.
An important contribution to understanding this problem was made by Zh.B. Say. He argued that professional skills and abilities acquired through expenditure lead to increased productivity and can therefore be considered capital. Assuming that human abilities can accumulate, Zh.B. Say called them capital.
John Stuart Mill wrote: “Man himself... I do not regard as wealth. But his acquired abilities, which exist only as a means and are generated by labor, with good reason, I believe, fall into this category. And further: “The skill, energy and perseverance of the workers of a country are considered as much its wealth as their tools and machines.”
The founder of the neoclassical direction in economic theory, A. Marshall (1842-1924), in his scientific work “Principles of Economic Science” (1890), drew attention to the fact that “the motives that encourage a person to accumulate personal capital in the form of investments in education are similar to those that encourage the accumulation of material capital.”
At the end of the 30s. XX century Nassau Senior assumed that a person could be successfully treated as capital. In most of his discussions on this topic, he took skill and acquired abilities in this capacity, but not the person himself. Nevertheless, he treated the person himself as capital with maintenance costs invested in the person with the expectation of receiving benefits in the future. Apart from the terminology used by the author, his reasoning very closely echoes the theory of the reproduction of labor force by K. Marx. The key component of the definition of the concept of “labor power” for Marx and the theorists of human capital is the same component - human abilities. K. Marx repeatedly spoke about their development and overall effectiveness, emphasizing the need for the development of the “individual”.
Scientific research by the classics of world economic thought and the development of the practice of market economy allowed the theory of human capital to form into an independent section of economic analysis at the turn of the 50-60s of the 20th century.
Prerequisites for the emergence of the theory of human capital (Human Capital)
The growing importance of the human factor in production, modern conditions of globalization of the world economy, informatization of production processes in the conditions of the scientific and technological revolution contributed to the emergence and expansion at the turn of the 60s of the twentieth century. theories of human capital. The theory of human capital is a theory that unites different views, ideas, provisions on the process of formation, use of knowledge, skills, and abilities of a person as a source of future income and appropriation of economic benefits. The theory of human capital is based on the achievements of institutional theory, neoclassical theory, neo-Keynesianism and other particular economic theories.
The emergence of this theory in the late 1950s - early 1960s. was associated with the need to provide an adequate understanding of the nature of the unusually high growth of the economies of developed countries of the world, which is not explained by the quantitative increase in the factors of production used - labor and capital, as well as with the impossibility of offering a universal interpretation of the phenomenon of income inequality, relying on the use of the existing conceptual apparatus. Analysis of the real processes of development and growth in modern conditions led to the approval of human capital as the main productive and social factor in the development of the modern economy and society.
The very birth of the theory occurred in October 1962, when the Journal of Political Economy published an additional issue entitled “Investing in People.”
Founders of the theory of human capital
The theory of human capital was developed by American economists Theodore Schultz and Gary Becker, supporters of free competition and pricing in Western political economy. For creating the foundations of the theory of human capital, they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics - Theodore Schultz in 1979, Gary Becker in 1992. Among the researchers who made the greatest contribution to the development of the theory of human capital are also M. Blaug, M. Grossman, J. Mintzer, M. Pearlman, L. Thurow, F. Welch, B. Chiswick, J. Kendrick, R. Solow, R. Lucas, C. Griliches, S. Fabricant, I. Fisher, E. Denison, etc. economists, sociologists and historians. A native of Russia, Simon (Semyon) Kuznets, who received the Nobel Prize in Economics for 1971, also made a significant contribution to the creation of the theory. Among modern domestic researchers of human capital problems, one can note S.A. Dyatlova, R.I. Kapelyushnikov, M.M. Kritsky, S.A. Kurgansky and others.
The concept of “human capital” is based on two independent theories:
1) The theory of “investment in people” was the first of Western economists' ideas about the reproduction of human productive abilities. Its authors are F. Machlup (Princeton University), B. Weisbrod (University of Wisconsin), R. Wikstra (University of Colorado), S. Bowles (Harvard University), M. Blaug (University of London), B. Fleischer (Ohio State University ), R. Campbell and B. Siegel (University of Oregon), etc. Economists of this movement proceed from the Keynesian postulate of the omnipotence of investment. The subject of research of the concept under consideration is both the internal structure of “human capital” itself and the specific processes of its formation and development.
M. Blaug believed that human capital is the present value of past investments in people's skills, and not the value of people themselves. From W. Bowen's point of view, human capital consists of the acquired knowledge, skills, motivations and energy that human beings are endowed with and which can be used over a certain period of time to produce goods and services. F. Makhlup wrote that unimproved labor can differ from improved labor, which has become more productive due to investments that increase a person’s physical and mental abilities. Such improvements constitute human capital.
2) By the authorstheory of “human capital production” are Theodore Schultz and Yorem Ben-Poret (University of Chicago), Gary Becker and Jacob Mintzer (Columbia University), L. Turow (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Richard Palmman (University of Wisconsin), Zvi Griliches (Harvard University), and others. This theory considered fundamental to Western economic thought.
Theodore William Schultz (1902-1998) - American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (1979). Born near Arlington (South Dakota, USA). He studied at college and graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, where in 1930 he received a doctorate in agricultural economics. He began his teaching career at Iowa State College. Four years later he headed the department of economic sociology. Since 1943 and for almost forty years, he has been a professor of economics at the University of Chicago. The teacher's activities were combined with active research work. In 1945, he prepared a collection of materials from the “Food for the World” conference, in which special attention is paid to food supply factors, issues of structure and migration of agricultural labor, professional qualifications of farmers, agricultural production technology and the direction of investment in farming. In Agriculture in an Unstable Economy (1945), he argued against poor land use because it led to soil erosion and other negative consequences for the agricultural economy.
In 1949-1967 T.-V. Schultz is a member of the board of directors of the US National Bureau of Economic Research, then an economic consultant to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and several government departments and organizations.
Among his most famous works are "Production and well-being of agriculture", "Transformation of traditional agriculture" (1964), "Investing in people: the economics of population quality" (1981) and etc.
The American Economic Association awarded T.-V. Schultz medal named after F. Volker. He is professor emeritus of the University of Chicago; he has been awarded honorary degrees by the Universities of Illinois, Wisconsin, Dijon, Michigan, North Carolina and the Universidad Católica de Chile.
According to the theory of human capital, two factors interact in production - physical capital (means of production) and human capital (acquired knowledge, skills, energy that can be used in the production of goods and services). People spend money not only on fleeting pleasures, but also on monetary and non-monetary income in the future. Investments are made in human capital. These are the costs of maintaining health, getting an education, costs associated with finding a job, obtaining the necessary information, migration, and professional training in production. The value of human capital is assessed by the potential income that it can provide.
T.-V. Schultz argued thathuman capital is a form of capital because it serves as a source of future earnings or future satisfaction, or both. And he becomes human because he is an integral part of man.
According to the scientist, human resources are similar, on the one hand, to natural resources, and on the other, to material capital. Immediately after birth, a person, like natural resources, does not produce any effect. Only after appropriate “processing” does a person acquire the qualities of capital. That is, with increasing costs for improving the quality of the labor force, labor as a primary factor is gradually transformed into human capital. T.-V. Schultz is convinced that, given the contribution of labor to output, human productive capabilities are greater than all other forms of wealth combined. The peculiarity of this capital, according to the scientist, is that regardless of the sources of formation (own, public or private), its use is controlled by the owners themselves.
The microeconomic foundation of the theory of human capital was laid by G.-S. Becker.
Becker Harry-Stanley (born 1930) is an American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (1992). Born in Pottsville (Pennsylvania, USA). In 1948 he studied at High school J. Madison in New York. In 1951 he graduated from Princeton University. His scientific career is connected with Columbia (1957-1969) and the University of Chicago. In 1957 he defended his doctoral dissertation and became a professor.
Since 1970 G.-S. Becker served as chair of the department of social sciences and sociology at the University of Chicago. He taught at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Collaborated with the weekly magazine Business Week.
He is an active supporter of market economics. His legacy includes many works: “The Economic Theory of Discrimination” (1957), “Treatise on the Family” (1985), “The Theory of Rational Expectations” (1988), “Human Capital” (1990), “Rational Expectations and the Effect of Consumption Prices” ( 1991), “Fertility and the Economy” (1992), “Training, Labor, Labor Quality and the Economy” (1992), etc.
The overarching idea of the scientist’s works is that when making decisions in his daily life, a person is guided by economic reasoning, although he is not always aware of it. He argues that the market of ideas and motives functions according to the same laws as the market of goods: supply and demand, competition. This also applies to issues such as getting married, starting a family, studying, and choosing a profession. In his opinion, many psychological phenomena are also amenable to economic assessment and measurement, such as satisfaction and dissatisfaction with one’s financial situation, the manifestation of envy, altruism, selfishness, etc.
Opponents G.-S. Becker argues that by focusing on economic calculations, he downplays the importance of moral factors. However, the scientist has an answer to this: moral values different people different, and it will take a long time before they become the same, if such a thing is ever possible. A person with any morality and intellectual level strives to obtain personal economic benefit.
In 1987 G.-S. Becker was elected president of the American Economic Association. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the US National Academy of Sciences, the US National Academy of Education, national and international societies, an editor of economic journals, and honorary doctorates from Stanford, the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois, and the Hebrew University.
The starting point for G.-S. Becker had the idea that when investing in vocational training and education, students and their parents act rationally, taking into account all the benefits and costs. Like “ordinary” entrepreneurs, they compare the expected marginal rate of return from such investments with the return on alternative investments (interest on bank deposits, dividends from securities). Depending on what is more economically feasible, they make a decision: to continue education or stop it. Rates of return are a regulator of the distribution of investments between different types and levels of learning, and between the education system and the rest of the economy. High rates of return indicate underinvestment, low rates indicate overinvestment.
G.-S. Becker carried out a practical calculation of the economic efficiency of education. For example, income from higher education is defined as the difference in lifetime earnings between those who completed college and those who did not go beyond high school. Among the costs of training, the main element was considered to be “lost earnings,” that is, earnings lost by students during the years of study. (Essentially, lost earnings measure the value of students' time spent building their human capital.) A comparison of the benefits and costs of education made it possible to determine the return on investment in a person.
G.-S. Becker believed that a low-skilled worker does not become a capitalist due to the diffusion (dispersion) of ownership of corporate shares (although this point of view is popular). This happens through the acquisition of knowledge and qualifications that have economic value. The scientist was convinced thatLack of education is the most serious factor that holds back economic growth.
The scientist insists on the difference between special and general investments in humans (and more broadly, between general and specific resources in general). Special training gives the employee knowledge and skills that increase the future productivity of its recipient only in the company that trains him (various forms of rotation programs, familiarization of newcomers with the structure and internal routine of the enterprise). In the process of general training, the employee acquires knowledge and skills that increase the recipient's productivity, regardless of the company for which he works (personal computer training).
According to G.-S. Becker, investments in the education of citizens, in medical care, in particular in children’s care, in social programs aimed at retaining, supporting, and replenishing personnel, are equivalent to investing in the creation or acquisition of new equipment or technologies, which in the future is returned with the same profits. This means, according to his theory, support by entrepreneurs for schools and universities is not charity, but concern for the future of the state
According to G.-S. Becker, general training is paid for in a certain way by the employees themselves. In an effort to improve their qualifications, they accept lower wages during the training period and later have income from general training. After all, if companies financed training, then every time such workers were fired, they would get rid of their investments in them. Conversely, special training is paid for by firms, and they also receive income from it. In case of dismissal at the initiative of the company, the costs would be borne by the employees. As a result, general human capital, as a rule, is developed by special “firms” (schools, colleges), and special human capital is formed directly in the workplace.
The term “special human capital” helped to understand why workers with a long tenure in one place are less likely to change jobs, and why vacancies are filled in firms primarily through internal career moves rather than through hiring on the external market.
Having studied the problems of human capital, G.-S. Becker became one of the founders of new sections of economic theory - the economics of discrimination, the economics of external management, the economics of crime, etc. He built a “bridge” from economics to sociology, demography, criminology; was the first to introduce the principle of rational and optimal behavior in those industries where, as researchers previously believed, habits and irrationality dominated.
Criticism of human capital theory
Ukrainian scientist S. Mocherny considers the main shortcomings of the theory of human capital to be an amorphous interpretation of the essence of capital, which includes not only everything that surrounds a person, but also individual features of the person himself; ignoring the fact that the costs of developing education and acquiring qualifications form only the ability to work, a labor force of appropriate quality, and not the capital itself; the fallacy of the opinion that such capital is inseparable from the person himself; a number of provisions of the theory on the structure of human capital have not been weighed, in particular, it is not correct to classify the search for necessary information on the value of prices and income as elements of this category, since such a search is not always successful, as evidenced by significant unemployment in most countries; the position that in order to transform the acquired knowledge, experience, creative abilities and other elements of a human worker into future income and the appropriation of economic benefits, an employee must constantly work, which means that the source of such income is not the level of education and qualifications itself, but the labor of a person. The biggest drawback of the theory of human capital, according to opponents, is its ideological orientation.
Although the theory is better suited to analyze some aspects of the labor market than neoclassical economics, both are inherently based on the assumption that there is “ideal” information about the possibilities of investment in human capital, both at a given moment and in the future. The theory assumes that the individual correctly estimates investment costs and expected returns in the form of future earnings. This assumption does not take into account the many economic and even political factors that can affect the earning potential of certain skills and occupations.
Another issue concerns the empirical relevance of human capital theory. Some studies have shown that human capital investments such as education account for only a small portion of the variation in people's earnings. Failure to consider factors such as background and motivation may result in an overestimation of future payback when investing in human capital.
The pressing question is whether forms of investment such as education and training in particular can actually increase productivity. In this regard, it is interesting to note Michael Spence's remark that training does not improve a person's productivity, it only reveals his innate abilities and indicates his potential productivity to a potential employer
The importance of human capital theory
Despite the fact that for a long time many scientists and even supporters of the theory of human capital considered it as unsuitable for practical use, in recent years scientists and managers in many countries have been making attempts to implement its provisions. Several aspects contribute to this:
1.G.-S. Becker obtained quantitative estimates of the profitability of investments in people and compared them with the actual profitability of most US firms, which helped to clarify and expand the understanding of the economic efficiency of investments in human capital. The emergence of a large number of private educational institutions, the intensification of the activities of consulting firms conducting short-term seminars and specialized courses indicate that the profitability in the private sector of educational activities is not lower than in other areas of business. For example, in the USA in the 60s of the twentieth century. the profitability of educational activities was 10-15 % higher than the profitability of other types of commercial activities.
2. The theory of human capital explained the structure of the distribution of personal income, the secular dynamics of earnings, and inequality in pay for male and female labor. Thanks to her, the attitude of politicians towards the costs of education has also changed. Educational investment has come to be seen as a source of economic growth, as important as “regular” investment.
The concept of national wealth acquires a broader interpretation. Today it covers, together with the material elements of capital (value assessments of land, buildings, structures, equipment, inventory items), financial assets and materialized knowledge and people’s abilities for productive work. Accumulated scientific knowledge, in particular, materialized in new technologies, investments in human health began to be taken into account in macroeconomic statistics as elements of national wealth that have an intangible form.
A new interpretation of “human” investments in ensuring socio-economic development and social progress has been recognized by international organizations. The situation in the fields of education, health care and other factors characterizing the level of development of human resources and the quality of life of the population have become the main objects of attention of international statistics. As integral indicators social development societies and the state of human resources use, in particular, the human development index (social development index); index of intellectual potential of society; an indicator of the amount of human capital per capita; population vitality coefficient, etc.
Since 1995, human development reports have been prepared in Ukraine. Thus, reports for 1995-1999, published by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), became the basis for justifying human development as a means and goal of national development. Based on these reports, the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine reviewed and adopted the UNDP Human Development Index. Today, this index has become an important indicator of human development, monitored by the State Statistics Committee on a regular basis.
3.Theory G.-S. Becker justified the economic need for large investments (public and private) in the “human factor”. This approach is implemented in practice. In particular, the human capital index per capita (expresses the level of spending by the state, firms and citizens on education, health care and other sectors of the social sphere per capita), used by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, increased in the post-war years by 0.25 % in year. In the 60s, growth stopped, which was primarily due to the demographic characteristics of the period, and in the 80s it accelerated - by almost 0.5 % annually.
4. The theory of human capital proposed a unified analytical framework for explaining such seemingly different phenomena as the contribution of education to economic growth, the demand for educational and medical services, age-related dynamics of earnings, differences in pay for male and female labor, and the transmission of economic inequality from generation to generation. generation and much more.
5. The ideas embedded in the theory of human capital have had a serious impact on the economic policy of the state. Thanks to her, society’s attitude towards investing in people has changed. They have learned to see investments that provide a production effect that is long-term in nature. This provided the theoretical basis for the accelerated development of the education and training system in many countries around the world.
6. Under the influence of the theory of human capital, in which education is assigned the role of the “great equalizer,” a certain reorientation of social policy has occurred. In particular, training programs came to be seen as an effective tool in the fight against poverty, perhaps preferable to direct income redistribution.
7. Human capital theory created a unified analytical framework for studying the funds invested in education and training, and also explained the differences between countries in the structure of those employed in the economy. After all, differences in the supply of human capital in different countries are more significant than differences in the supply of real capital. Among the problems in solving which the theory of human capital may be appropriate, T.-V. Schultz called the phenomenon when countries rich in capital, in particular created material assets, export predominantly labor-intensive rather than capital-intensive products.
The main social conclusion of the theory of human capital is that in modern conditions, improving the quality of the labor force is more important than increasing the supply of labor resources. Control over production passes from the hands of owners of monopolies on material capital into the hands of those who possess knowledge. This theory opens up the possibility of assessing the contribution to economic growth of an educational fund (by analogy with assessing the contribution of fixed property funds), as well as the possibility of managing investment processes based on a comparison of the return on investments in property funds and an educational fund.
Figure - the influence of human capital on economic development