The main goal of social production is to meet the needs of people. In turn, the satisfaction of these needs is determined by the available economic resources. In this regard, the contradiction between the maximum satisfaction of society and the limited economic resources causesthe problem of choosing the best possible options use of resources.
Consider the essence and main types of economic resources.
The economic resources of society have the following elemental structure (table 1).
Table 1. Structure of economic resources
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Economic resources |
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Resource type |
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Natural resources |
They are natural resources (arable land, forests, ore deposits of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, minerals, coal, oil, gas, water, etc.). Among the resources are renewable and non-renewable. Renewable includes forests, fish stocks; to non-renewable - coal, oil and gas deposits |
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Investment resources |
Investments are long-term investments of public or private capital in various industries, both within the country and abroad, with the aim of making a profit. Investments are divided into physical and financial. Physical investment(capital investments, that is, investments in fixed capital) lead to the reproduction and renewal of fixed capital. Financial investments are considered as investments in securities... They are often referred to as portfolio investments. The set of practical actions but the implementation of physical and financial investments is called investment activities or investment, and the investor - investors |
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Human resources |
They are characterized by the size of the population, the level of its education, and the sex and age structure. Human resources are the basis for the formation of labor resources. They include the population that has reached working age and has the necessary physical development and professional (intellectual) abilities. A certain part of human resources has an entrepreneurial ability. According to the data, the number of people with entrepreneurial ability in society is about 5-10 %. Entrepreneurship fee - profit |
The goods that are used in the process of making other goods acquire the designation of economic resources. In economic theory, they are called factors of production(fig. 1).
Production factors- the resources used by people in economic activities to create life benefits.
Rice. one.
French scientist J. B. Sey was one of the first to conduct research on the problem of factors of production. Later this study was called the "theory of three factors of production" (table 2).
Table 2. a brief description of factors of production
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Type of production factor |
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All natural resources that are either directly involved in production or are a condition for it are meant. The price paid for the use of land is called rent. Rent is the income of the owner of the land |
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This is the process of spending by a person his physical, intellectual and spiritual energy. Each person has a labor force, or the ability to work. The main motive for work is the desire to receive material rewards. Labor can be conditionally divided into necessary and surplus. Labor is characterized by intensity and productivity. Intensity- This is the intensity of labor, which is determined by the degree of expenditure of labor power per unit of time. Performance is the productivity of labor. It is measured by the amount of products produced per unit of time. The wages for labor are wages |
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This is all that is used in the production process for the manufacture of products and their subsequent sale to the consumer (buildings, structures, machinery, equipment, tools, transport, etc.). Capital resources (means of production) differ from consumer goods in that the latter satisfy needs directly, while the former do it indirectly, providing the actual process of production of consumer goods. Capital does not imply money, since it does not produce anything, and therefore it cannot be considered an economic resource. Real capital is a means of production, and hence an economic resource; money, or financial capital, is not such a resource. Capital use fee-- percent |
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Entrepreneur. ability |
The entrepreneur combines economic resources (land, captain, labor) into one whole at a certain enterprise. Entrepreneurship (entrepreneurial activity) is an initiative and independent activity of people, carried out at their own risk and under their property responsibility and aimed at making a profit. Therefore, the central place in a market economy belongs to the entrepreneur. As a reward, the entrepreneur makes a profit |
The above groups of economic resources (factors of production) have one common property: they are rare or limited. It should be noted that none of the factors of production alone can produce a product or generate income. The production process is an interaction (combination) of these factors. And from this point of view, the entrepreneur is interested in the question of how to achieve such a ratio of factors in which you can get the maximum profit.
In modern conditions of economic development entrepreneurial ability both in theory and in practice of management are a generally recognized factor of production.
Entrepreneurial ability assumes the following abilities:
- ? an initiative to combine resources - land, capital and labor - into a single process of production of goods and services;
- ? making basic decisions on doing business;
- ? innovation, i.e. an entrepreneur is the person who commercially introduces new products, technologies or new forms of business organization;
- ? an entrepreneur is a person who takes risks. The reward for the activity can be not only profits, but also losses. An entrepreneur is risking his time, reputation, and investment.
Resources come at a price. It is determined in resource markets, where resource owners sell them and receive cash income from this in the form of payments for the use of resources:
- ? natural - rent;
- ? labor - wages;
- ? capital - interest;
- ? entrepreneurial activity - profit (loss).
The dynamic development and complication of economic processes around the world is currently giving rise to objective patterns that are associated with the introduction of new modern factors of production into the practice of management. .
Added to the traditional factors new factors, among which the following:
- - an innovative factor;
- - energy factor;
- - information factor;
- - environmental factor.
Innovation factor associated with the use and implementation in the economy the latest technologies and equipment. Innovations are innovations introduced into production or service sector in the form of objects, technologies, products resulting from scientific research, inventions and discoveries that are qualitatively different from their counterparts.
As a product of mental labor, new technologies make it possible to expand the boundaries of the use of physical, chemical, biological properties of matter in the sphere of material production.
The use of low-waste and non-waste technologies allows you to save used resources, as well as dispose of waste. The use of biotechnology in the food industry, agriculture, medicine significantly expands the capabilities of these industries for their beneficial effects on human life.
Energy factor in the modern world is one of the most important conditions for the economic development of the state. The ever-increasing needs of society require an adequate development of production. An increase in industrial production is directly related to an increase in the consumption of all types of energy resources.
The development of the industry has caused a sharp increase in the consumption of energy, the increase in extraction and production of which is becoming a decisive factor in the expansion of the scale of production. In addition, resource reserves are depleted, and additional costs have to be borne for exploration and extraction in more inaccessible places.
Information factor is of the greatest importance in the conditions of the functioning of the modern economy. Information has the most direct impact on the improvement of the production system, on the growth of labor productivity, on the introduction of advanced technological processes and others. In addition, this factor is decisive in the choice of management decisions regarding economic development, both at the enterprise level and at the level of the national economy as a whole.
Environmental factor nowadays is of great importance. In recent years, the importance of the ecological factor of production has significantly increased. This is due to the fact that the expansion of the scale of industrial production leads to a significant increase in the burden on the environment. The contradictions between society and nature have intensified to the utmost. The human habitat was on the verge of an ecological disaster. As a result of an increase in industrial production, the amount of harmful substances emitted into the atmosphere has reached a critical level, and the animal and plant world is becoming impoverished.
The negative impact of this factor leads to an increase in environmental, economic, social losses in society and requires the implementation of preventive measures related to the overall improvement of the environment. It is quite clear that the development and implementation of preventive measures to improve the environment requires serious financial investments.
Economic resources are prepared means necessary for the implementation of the process of production of material goods. The role of resources in the economy is determined by the following functions:
- production, lies in the fact that resources ultimately provide the creation of consumer goods and services that meet social needs;
- effective, consists in contributing to obtaining a greater effect in the production of goods and services by saving resources in order to obtain more useful effect per unit of cost;
- economic, consists in the formation of an economic basis for obtaining income by the owner of the resource when selling it to the consumer.
Resource structure reflects the nature of their origin. Moreover, with the development of society and scientific and technological progress, the structure of resources is noticeably enriched. In modern conditions, it is customary to allocate the following types of resources:
- Natural resources, including land, forest, water, minerals, energy resources, etc., which are explored, identified, involved or can be used in social production;
- material resources consisting of machinery, equipment, finished raw materials and materials, buildings, structures, etc. - created in the process of human interaction with natural resources;
- human resources, including, a) the labor of employees who directly create goods and services, b) the entrepreneurial abilities of workers who ensure the organization of production, making economic decisions, determining the prospects for the development of entrepreneurial activity;
- informational resources , consisting of information (scientific, technical, technological, etc.) and the means to ensure its receipt, transmission, processing and consumption.
The main feature of economic resources is their scarcity (scarcity). Therefore, it is impossible to satisfy them the needs of all members of society at the same time and in full. The main reasons for this are. First, some of the resources are not renewed, primarily those that are readily available in nature and their reserves are decreasing (raw materials, energy).
Secondly, many resources are not elastic, that is, they are not interchangeable in the production of alternative goods. For example, not all land used for construction is suitable for the cultivation of crops. And the one that is used for growing grain is not always suitable for growing grapes.
Thirdly, the ecological state of the surrounding natural sphere. There are extreme environmental loads on natural resources (energy, materials, water and mineral resources, land), in the form of threshold situations, beyond which, with an increase in production and use of resources, the quality of the environment deteriorates. Consequently, there is an ecological resource base that limits the possibilities for expanding production and use of natural resources.
Based specified characteristics, in any society there are problems of rational use of resources, the use of more effective methods their processing so as not to worsen the ecological conditions of the natural environment.
The economic resources involved in production are converted into factors of production. Resources and factors are uniform in purpose and function, but differ in form, connection and action. First, factors are converted natural and material resources into specific tools, raw materials, and energy. Human resources acquire a specific professional qualification structure. Secondly, resources turn into factors when they are directly connected with each other. Only when man's labor force is combined with natural and material resources is the labor process and the production process possible. Thirdly, any factors, including factors of production, become such when they are not in statics, but in motion, in action as external causal phenomena that ensure changes in a particular process. Starting with the French economist J. Sayy, who put forward the theory of three factors, they include labor, land and capital. In this case, the primary factors are land and labor, because the supply of these factors is determined outside the sphere of the economy itself. They are primary from the nature from which they emanate. The secondary factor is capital, as a factor produced by the economy itself. People always strive to turn the primary factors of production (labor, land) into capital as a means to increase the wealth of peoples.
Land, in conjunction with labor, is a factor of production. It acts both as a means of labor when agricultural products are cultivated (grown), and as an object of labor, since it contains all the substances necessary for a person that he can adapt, transform into consumer goods. At the same time, the earth is inseparable from nature itself and performs two functions: a) as a factor of production, b) as a habitat for humans - an objective factor in the reproduction of human life. Here we see both unity and contradiction. Expansion of the use of land as a factor of production worsens the conditions for human life. The resolution of this contradiction is possible on the basis of creating a normal ecological and economic system. This requires, first of all, a change in production technology, the approximation of artificial technology to natural processes, that is, the introduction of biotechnology, waste-free and low-waste technologies.
Work as a factor of production manifests itself when the labor force is combined with the instrument of labor and the process of labor begins. It is labor that sets in motion the material factors of production and creates a product. Only through his labor can a person provide this or that service to another person. Any service ends with a specific result thanks to labor. The socio-economic form of labor as a factor of production differs from the form of other factors of production. The latter can be owned by different owners, have a different form or type of ownership. Labor belongs to the one who owns the labor force. Labor power always has the personal property of the person who has the physical and mental ability to work. In contrast to the variety of forms of ownership of material factors of production, there is only individual ownership of each to his labor force, to his labor, regardless of whether the owner is an employee or an individual producer.
In reality, in economic practice, the inclusion of an employee in the production process is carried out through the form of hiring, which has a different content depending on what economic relations it serves. Ultimately, the service created by the employee is exchanged for the salary provided by the employer. Thus, in social production, a person acts in his three main functions: a) as the main factor of production, through labor; b) as a subject of industrial relations; c) as the ultimate goal of production, by means of a created product that satisfies his needs.
Capital as a material factor of production has a multilateral structure. It includes, first of all, the means of labor and objects of labor. Subject of labor, this is what human labor is directed to: the earth, its bowels, raw materials - the substance of nature, which has undergone primary processing (coal, metal, cotton, etc.). Labor tools, those things with the help of which a person influences the object of labor and changes it. The main means of labor are instruments of labor (machines, aggregates, equipment and other mechanical means of labor), which make up active part of the means of labor, which directly affects the subject of labor. Those instruments of labor that indirectly serve to transform objects of labor, form passive part(building, structure, roads). The subject of labor and the means of labor in aggregate form means of production.
The material factors of production also include information and the means to ensure its reproduction; energy , without which modern production is inconceivable. An important material factor of production is production function as a set of technology and achievements of scientific and technological progress introduced into production. It is the production function that reflects the achieved method of processing the subject of labor, the combination, quantitative and qualitative ratio of the factors of production used. Its objects in materialized form are units, equipment, technological lines, automated systems, and in non-material form - technical documentation, knowledge, know-how experience, etc.
The interaction of factors of production reflects both their unity and contradiction. The unity is that the action of one factor or another is possible only when it is combined with another factor. Without human labor, material factors are dead. But even a person without tools of labor cannot carry out the labor process and create vital benefits. Their contradiction is revealed in the process of development and functioning, as a result of uneven improvement, quantitative and qualitative discrepancy. The resolution of these contradictions is possible on the basis of action economic laws of development of factors of production. These laws express economic relations regarding the interaction of material and personal factors of production. These laws include the law of conformity of factors of production. This law is characterized by its content:
a) the correspondence of factors of production not in statics, but constant change because both the means of production and the labor force are constantly evolving;
b) conformity in quality, since the created more advanced machines present new requirements for the qualifications of the workforce. Consequently, it is necessary for a person's ability to bring in line with the achieved level of means of production;
c) correspondence in quantity, because the number of workers must correspond to the number of jobs, otherwise equipment will either stand idle and production efficiency will fall, or unemployment will grow.
Among the laws of development of factors of production should also include the law of increasing labor productivity. Labor productivity is the fruitfulness (efficiency) of labor, expressed in the amount of product created per unit of labor time, or the amount of labor expended per unit of product. Productive labor tends to be very intense and complex. Labor intensity, this is its density, expressed by the amount of labor expended per unit of labor time. Difficult work, it is labor performed by a more skilled labor force as opposed to simple labor performed by a less skilled labor force. The operation of the law of conformity of factors of production has a positive effect on the law of increasing labor productivity, since a smaller amount of more skilled labor is able to set in motion complex equipment and create more products with its help.
Production resources are a combination of various natural, social and spiritual forces that can be used in the process of creating goods, services and other values.
In economic theory, resources are divided into the following groups:
- natural resources - natural forces and substances potentially suitable for use in production. Among them are inexhaustible (solar energy, wind energy) and derived (can be renewable (forest, water) and non-renewable (oil, gas, ore deposits, etc.). Many natural resources are rare, and their reserves are decreasing every day;
- material - all man-made (man-made) means of production and objects of labor, which are themselves the result of production;
- labor - able-bodied population;
- financial - cash that society is able to allocate for the organization of production;
- informational - data necessary for the functioning of automated production and its management using computer technology.
In economic theory, the main and additional factors of production are distinguished. The main factors of production include labor, land and capital. According to leading economists, additional factors of production include entrepreneurship, science as a productive force, Information Technology.
Labor - the abilities and skills of a person that can be used in the production of goods and services. To be more precise, here we are talking about the labor force as the totality of the physical and spiritual forces of a person, his ability to work. Labor force in each specific country(region) is limited by the number of the adult working-age population. The decline in the birth rate and the associated aging of the population make the problem of efficient use of the labor force very acute.
Capital - human-made production resources (buildings, structures, equipment, tools, vehicles, semi-finished products) used in production. Their number in the economy is not unlimited, in addition, they tend to wear out in the process of functioning, therefore, they periodically require replacement.
Land - natural goods that are used to create goods and services (minerals, forest, water, air, areas of the territory).
Entrepreneurial ability (entrepreneurship) is a special type of human activity, which consists in the ability to most effectively use other factors of production.
Science as a factor of production is a sphere of human activity, the function of which is the development and systematization of objective knowledge about reality. The features of this factor of production are that science:
- becomes a participant in production as an element of the productive forces;
- affects the level of production efficiency;
- influences the process of training highly qualified labor force;
- determines the level of technology and organization of production;
- turns into a direct productive force.
knowledge materialized in the system of mechanisms, machines, equipment, management and marketing models.
The environmental factor is gaining more and more importance in modern production, which acts either as an impulse for economic growth or as a limitation of its possibilities due to the negative impact on the natural environment.
Some economists allocate time as a special economic resource. People in their production and economic activities have a limited amount of this non-renewable resource.
The production technology has a great influence on the efficient use of resources, which is a specific way of processing objects of labor, a certain order of production processes, as well as the organization of production, which ensures the coherence of the functioning of all its resources. The organization of production, labor and management is called management, which in the economic literature of the XX century. considered a factor of production.
A special role in the modern economy is played by such a factor as infrastructure - a set of industries and spheres of activity that create general conditions for the functioning of production.
All factors of production, firstly, are inextricably linked and are interchangeable. Secondly, each good for its production requires a certain set of factors. Thirdly, any good can be produced by using various factors in various combinations and proportions. Fourthly, an economic entity organizing production combines all its factors in such a way as to obtain more product at the lowest possible cost. Fifth, all economic factors of production are available in limited quantities. This poses the problem of their effective use before society. Sixth, the organization of production ensures the coordinated functioning of all factors of production, their proportional quantitative ratio, and interchangeability.
The main goal and factor of production, its development and improvement is a person. As a participant in the production, he acts in three persons. On the one hand, a person is a producer directly involved in the creation of goods and services. On the other hand, he is a consumer who uses everything that is obtained in the production process. In addition, a person coordinates, coordinates the actions of producers and consumers, performing the function of a manager.
It should be noted that money is not a factor of production. Nothing can be done from money, but it is a condition for acquiring resources. Funds are attracted to purchase factors of production from their owners, and thereby provide a real opportunity to combine resources in a single production process.
Material and intangible goods and services
Benefits are the means of satisfying the needs of people. There are many criteria on the basis of which to distinguish different kinds good.
Benefits can be classified:
- on material, including natural gifts of nature (land, air, water, climate); manufactured products (food, buildings, structures, machines, tools);
- on intangible, in the form of activities useful to people and affecting the development of human abilities. They are created in the non-production sphere (health care, education, culture, etc.). These include internal benefits given to a person by nature (ability to science, voice, ear for music, etc.), as well as external benefits (what the outside world gives to satisfy needs (reputation, business relations, patronage, etc.) .).
Other material goods are available in limited quantities (various kinds of "rarity"). To satisfy the needs in them and to have them in an accessible quantity, human efforts are needed to obtain them, to adapt to the needs. These benefits are called economic (or economic). The well-being of people depends on the possession of these benefits, therefore they are treated with care, economical, prudent.
A specific form of economic good is goods, i.e. products of labor created for exchange (sale).
To create material and spiritual goods and services, resources and factors of production are needed. What does economic theory understand by these categories?
Production resources are a combination of material and financial resources, natural, social and spiritual forces that can be used in the process of creating goods, services and other values.
In economic theory, resources are usually divided into four groups:
1) natural - potentially suitable for use in production natural forces and substances, among which are distinguished "inexhaustible" and "exhaustible" (and in the latter - "renewable" and "non-renewable");
2) material - all man-made ("man-made") means of production, which are themselves the result of production;
3) labor - the population of working age, which in the "resource" aspect is usually assessed by three parameters: socio-demographic, vocational qualification and cultural and educational;
4) financial - funds that the company is able to allocate for the organization of production.
The importance of certain types of resources changed with the transition from pre-industrial to industrial, and from it to post-industrial technology. In a pre-industrial society, priority was given to natural and labor resources, in an industrial society - to material resources, in a post-industrial society - to intellectual and information resources.
Natural, material and labor resources are inherent in any production, therefore they are called "basic"; and the financial resources that emerged at the "market" stage were called "derivatives".
Along with the concept of "resources of production", economic theory also operates with the concept of "factors of production". What is their difference?
We noted that resources are those material, natural and social forces that can be involved in production. Factors of production "is an economic category denoting resources already actually involved in the production process. Therefore," resources of production "is a broader concept than" factors of production. "In other words, factors of production are producing resources.
Unlike resources, factors become such only through interaction; therefore, production is always an interacting unity of its factors.
In economic theory, there are several classifications of factors (Fig. 4.2.), For example, the Marxist theory singles out personal (labor power) and material (means of labor and objects of labor) factors as factors of production. Modern economic science defines three main factors of production:
"land" as a factor of production has a threefold meaning: in a broad sense, it means all natural resources used in the production process; in a number of industries (agrarian, mining, fishing), "land" is an object of management, when it simultaneously acts as both an "object of labor" and a "means of labor"; within the entire economy, "land" can act as an object of ownership (in this case, its owner may not take direct part in the production process - he participates indirectly, by providing "his" land);
2) "capital" is the name given to material and financial resources in the system of factors of production: monetary assets, shares, equipment, buildings, transport and communications, raw materials, etc .;
3) "labor" acts as any physical and intellectual human activity aimed at producing goods and providing services. The totality of personality abilities, conditioned by education, vocational training, health skills, is human capital. This is the part of society that is directly involved in the production process (sometimes such a term as "economically active population" is used, which covers only the able-bodied, employed in production).
Each of the named factors of production is able to bring income to its owner (Fig. 4.3.):
The profitability of all factors means that all their owners are independent and equal partners. Moreover, one can even talk about a kind of economic justice, because the income of each participant in production corresponds to the contribution of the factor belonging to him to the creation of total income.
It should be noted that, having considered production as the interaction of its three main factors, we gave the technological characteristics of production. But since each factor is represented by its owner, production takes on a social character, it becomes a social process. Production turns into the result of production relations between the owners of the factors of production. And since individuals, and their groups, and social institutions can act as owners, production is represented by the relationship of various economic actors (or different forms of ownership - individual, collective, state).
As we have already said, not every owner of a factor of production must necessarily take a direct part in production. However, this is the privilege of the owners of only alienated factors of production - "land" and "capital". The ability to work is impossible to convey. Therefore, the one who represents only the factor "labor" must always take a direct part in production. Consequently, his status as a "hired worker" is objective, which, however, does not prevent him from having ownership of other factors of production (for example, purchasing shares, real estate, etc.).
In modern conditions, in addition to the three main factors of production, entrepreneurial abilities, science, information and others are also distinguished.
Entrepreneurial ability is a special type of human resources associated with proactive activities to combine the resources of land, capital and labor into a single process of producing goods or services; making major decisions in the process of doing business; risk, innovation, the introduction of new products, production technologies and new forms of organization of production.
Science as a factor of production is a sphere of human activity, the function of which is the development and systematization of objective knowledge about reality. The features of this factor of production are that science:
becomes a participant in production as an element of the productive forces; affects the level of production efficiency; influences the process of training highly qualified labor force; determines the level of technology and organization of production; turns into a direct productive force.
Information as a factor of production provides the systematization of knowledge materialized into a system of mechanisms, machines, equipment, management and marketing models.
The environmental factor is gaining more and more importance in modern production, which acts either as an impulse for economic growth or as a limitation of its possibilities due to the negative impact on the natural environment.
Some economists allocate time as a special economic resource. People in their production and economic activities have a limited amount of this non-renewable resource.
The production technology has a great influence on the efficient use of resources, which is a specific way of processing objects of labor, a certain order of production processes, as well as the organization of production, which ensures the coherence of the functioning of all its resources. Managed organization of production, labor and management is called management, which in the economic literature of the XX century. considered a factor of production.
A special role in the modern economy is played by such a factor as infrastructure - a set of industries and spheres of activity that create general conditions for the functioning of production.
All factors of production, firstly, are inextricably linked and are interchangeable. Secondly, each good for its production requires a certain set of factors. Thirdly, any good can be produced by using various factors in various combinations and proportions. Fourthly, an economic entity organizing production combines all its factors in such a way as to obtain more product at the lowest possible cost. Fifthly, the organization of production ensures the coordinated functioning of all factors of production, their proportional quantitative ratio, and interchangeability. Sixth, all economic resources, or factors of production, are available in limited quantities. This poses the problem of their effective use before society.