Any economic good is produced for the purpose of its consumption, i.e. must satisfy people's needs.

Need- This is the desire of people to have any goods that satisfy their desire.

There are needs:

* primary and secondary;

* material and spiritual;

* industrial and personal;

* public.

To primary needs include the most basic human needs (food, clothing, shoes); To secondary– needs that are satisfied after the primary needs are satisfied, these are the needs of leisure – cinema, theater, sports. Primary needs, unlike secondary ones, cannot be replaced by one another.

Material needs– is the satisfaction of people’s desires for housing, clothing, shoes, cars.

Spiritual Needs– satisfaction of mental needs (works of art, culture, science). Among them are:

Personal needs satisfied with personal consumption items (food, clothing, shoes);

Production needs– these are the needs of enterprises, firms, entrepreneurs for means of production.

In addition, they highlight social needs– schools, hospitals, military equipment.

Needs may be saturable, having a clear limit, and unsatiable that do not have clearly defined boundaries.

American scientist Maslow divided all human needs into 5 groups:

* physiological needs (sleep, eating, thirst);

* self-preservation needs (safety, security);

* social needs (communication with people, love, power);

* needs for recognition of a person as an individual (status, authority);

* needs for self-esteem (self-development, self-realization).

When a need is recognized, it arises motivation(incentive) to work. Needs for in this case turn into a concrete form - a form of interest.

Economic interest there is a form of manifestation of needs. It is realized in a certain amount of material and intangible goods. Personal economic interest for an entrepreneur is profit at the lowest cost, and for a consumer it is interest in low prices and high quality of goods and services.

The means to satisfy people's needs and produce economic goods (goods and services) are economic resources.

Resources– this is everything that is used for the production and sale of goods and services.

Economic resources are resources considered from the point of view of rarity and limitation.

Rarity means that resources are usually less than necessary to satisfy all needs at a given level economic development. Due to the scarcity of resources, production volume is limited.

Limitation resources can be absolute and relative.

Absolute limitation characteristic of natural and labor resources, relative– for material, financial and information resources.

Allocate resources:

* natural(land, oil, gas, plants). Among them are:

- renewable(forests, soil, plants);

- non-renewable(oil, gas, coal);

- inexhaustible(sea tides, air, wind and water energy);

- replaceable(fuel resources for solar or atomic energy);

- irreplaceable(air, water).

* material - everything that is created by human hands.

* labor– this is the working age population (labor force) and entrepreneurial abilities (ability to take risks, intelligence, talent);

* financial – cash, which are necessary for economic activity.

* informational.

Resources by origin there are two types:

* primary(natural, labor, financial and material);

* secondary (derivatives)– resources that appeared in connection with scientific and technological progress (information, technology, organization, management, infrastructure).

In Western economic thought, unlike Marxist, there is no distinction between resources and factors of production. So, resources are something that has not yet been touched by human hands (coal, oil).

Factors of production– these are resources put into action, i.e. As part of the production process, resources are transformed into factors of production; unlike resources, they always have an owner.

Neoclassical theory identifies 4 groups of production factors: capital; work; Earth; entrepreneurial skills.

Capital combines material, financial and information resources. Earth in a broad sense means all natural (natural) resources. TO labor include labor resources. Entrepreneurial skills – this is intelligence, talent, the ability to take risks and introduce innovations. 10-15% of people have them. These abilities fall under the category of labor.

Any person, family, company or state, regardless of its level of development, is limited in its capabilities due to the insufficiency of available resources (economists call this a budget constraint). And although over the centuries-old history humanity has significantly expanded the scope of these restrictions, it is impossible to completely remove them.
Economic needs - a lack of something, an objective need for something necessary to maintain the life activity and development of an individual, a group of people, or society as a whole. Economic needs act as an internal motivating factor for active human activity. Needs are divided into primary, which satisfy vital human needs (food, clothing, housing, etc.), and secondary, which include all other needs (for example, leisure needs: cinema, theater, sports, tourism, etc.). Primary needs cannot be replaced by one another, but secondary needs can.
The theory of the hierarchy of needs of Maslow, a modern American economist, has become widely known. According to this theory, human needs develop from lower to higher, and an individual must first satisfy lower-order needs in order for higher-level needs to arise.
Maslow's hierarchy of needs includes the following components:
1. Physiological (hunger, thirst, sex...).
2. The need for security (protection from pain, anger, fear...).
3. Social need (love, family, friends, communication).
4. The need for self-affirmation (self-esteem, prestige, career, success).
5. The need for self-actualization (realization of abilities, understanding, comprehension, etc.).
With all the diversity of needs, what is common to all of them is their limitlessness and the impossibility of full satisfaction due to limited economic resources.
Resources- this is the totality of all goods and services used by a person to produce the products he needs.
Resources are divided into two classes:
- free resources - for example, atmospheric air, solar energy;
- economic resources (resources, the quantity of which is relatively limited, the market price is different from zero).
The division of resources into economic and free is not permanent. Practice shows that once free resources (for example, clean drinking water) may become rare over time and become economic.
The limitation of economic resources is not absolute, but relative. The limited resources are relative to our needs.
Economic resources(they are also called factors of production) include four large groups:
- Natural resources, or earth;
- investment resources, or capital;
- labor resources, or labor;
- entrepreneurial abilities.
Land covers not only agricultural land and urban land allocated for industrial or residential development, but also other natural benefits obtained from nature - minerals, water resources, etc.
Investment resources, or the so-called real capital, include all buildings, structures, machines, machines, equipment used for the production and transportation of goods and services to the consumer. It should be noted that financial capital(stocks, bonds, bank deposits, money) does not apply to economic resources.
Labor is the sum of all the physical and mental abilities of people used in the production of goods and services.

2 Quote. by: McConnell K.R., Brew S.L. Economics / Transl. from English In 2 vols. M., 1992. T. 1. P. 18.

Modern economic theory cannot be reduced to this alone. However, the contradiction between the limitlessness of needs and the limited resources forms the axis around which economic life revolves, and the core of economics as a science. A household, a company, the entire national economy has to constantly make a choice on the purchase or production of what goods to spend its resources, which are almost always limited.

Interweaving, mobility and fungibility of economic resources

Resources are intertwined. For example, an economic resource such as knowledge is used when natural resources are sought to be consumed more rationally on the basis of new knowledge (scientific achievements). Knowledge is an important element of such a resource as labor, when it is assessed from the qualitative side and attention is paid to the qualifications of workers, which depends primarily on the education (knowledge) they have received. Knowledge (primarily technological) ensures an increase in the level of use of equipment, i.e. real capital. Finally, they (especially management knowledge) allow entrepreneurs to organize the production of goods and services in the most rational way.

Economic resources are mobile (movable), as they can move in space (within a country, between countries), although the degree of their mobility varies. The least mobile are natural resources, the mobility of many of which is close to zero (land is difficult to move from one place to another, although it is possible). Labor resources are more mobile, as can be seen from the internal and external migration of labor in the world on a noticeable scale (see Chapter 36). Entrepreneurial abilities are even more mobile, although they often do not move on their own, but together with labor resources and/or capital (this is due to the fact that the bearers of entrepreneurial abilities are either hired managers or capital owners). The last two resources are the most mobile - capital (especially money) and knowledge.

The intertwining of resources and their mobility partly reflect their other property - interchangeability (alternativeness). If a farmer needs to increase grain production, then he can do it this way: expand the area under cultivation (use additional natural resources), or hire additional workers (increase the use of labor), or expand his fleet of equipment and equipment (increase his capital), or improve organization labor on the farm (use your entrepreneurial abilities more widely), or, finally, use new types of seeds (apply new knowledge). The farmer has this choice because economic resources are interchangeable (alternative).

Usually this interchangeability is not complete. For example, human resources cannot completely replace capital, otherwise workers will be left without equipment and inventory. Economic resources replace each other easily at first, but then become more and more difficult. So, with a constant number of tractors, you can increase the number of workers on the farm by requiring them to work in two shifts. However, it will be very difficult to hire more workers and organize systematic work in three shifts, unless by sharply increasing their wages.

The entrepreneur (production organizer) constantly encounters and uses the indicated properties of economic resources. Indeed, given the limited availability of these resources, he is forced to find the most rational combination of them, using interchangeability.

Cobb-Douglas model

An illustration of the interweaving and alternativeness of economic resources can be a simple Cobb-Douglas model based on only two production factors (named after two American economists).

The concept of resource markets

5. On the basis of economic resources, the production of economic goods is carried out. With limited (scarce) resources, one has to choose what goods to produce and what production possibilities exist for this. In this case, the concept of alternative (imputed) cost (cost) is used, which means what one has to give up to produce the desired good.

6. The increase in opportunity costs as each additional unit of output is produced is the essence of the law of increasing opportunity costs. Closely related to it is the law of diminishing returns, which means that the increase in output becomes less and less as new units of an economic resource are added in combination with a constant amount of other economic resources.

7. Economic theory and practice widely use the concept of limiting (marginal) values, which is understood as an increase in one value caused by an increase in another value by one (provided that all other values ​​remain unchanged). They talk about marginal cost, marginal revenue, marginal utility. The concept of limit values ​​is based primarily on two ideas. Firstly, at a certain stage, the costs of producing a good (production costs) begin to grow faster than the production of this good itself. Secondly, the more abundant a good is, the less it is valued.

8. Economic efficiency is obtaining the maximum possible benefits from available resources. To do this, you need to constantly compare benefits (benefits) and costs (costs), or, in other words, behave rationally. Rational behavior is that the producer and consumer of goods strive for the highest efficiency and for this they maximize benefits and minimize costs. Efficiency is calculated in various ways.

9. The division of production between various workers, enterprises and their divisions, industries, regions of the country, as well as between countries is called the division of labor. Accordingly, a distinction is made between professional, inter-firm and intra-factory, inter-industry, inter-regional and international division of labor. Based on the division of labor, the orientation of producers towards the production of individual products and their elements is called specialization.

Terms and concepts
Economic benefits
Economic needs
Goods and services (goods)
Essential products
Engel's law
Economic resources
Interchangeability (alternativeness) of economic resources
Production capabilities
Alternative (imputed) cost (costs)
Law of Increasing Opportunity Cost
Law of Diminishing Returns
Economic efficiency
Pareto efficiency (Pareto optimum)
Division of labor
Specialization

Self-test questions

1. How is the law (principle) of increasing needs formulated?

2. List the economic resources you know.

3. What consequences arise from the combination of unlimited needs and limited resources?

4. What does such a property of economic resources as their interchangeability (alternativeness) give an entrepreneur?

5. Explain what the production possibilities curve shows?

6. How are the law of increasing opportunity costs and the law of diminishing returns similar and different?

7. Where in economic life, in your opinion, can the ideas of marginalism be used?

8. What economic efficiency indicators do you know and how are they calculated?

9. What is the difference between corporate and national economic efficiency?

10. Prove that specialization is related to the division of labor.

Economic theory, as established above, studies the behavior of people in the process of reproduction of economic goods in order to satisfy needs under resource constraints.

The main motivation in people's behavior is to satisfy their own needs.

Needs mean a need or desire for something that is not provided by a person’s income. Typically, needs are divided into primary or material and secondary, social, including the needs for leisure, work and creativity, and social recognition. The division of needs into primary and secondary is conditional and changes with the development of society. Both material and social needs develop along with the development of productive forces, of which man is a part.

Among the various classifications of needs, the so-called “pyramid of needs” by the American scientist A. Maslow is widespread, who identified the following groups in the structure of needs: 1) physiological and biological needs (for example, hunger, thirst, etc.); 2) existential needs (for security of existence, I’m sure
security in the future, stability of living conditions, etc.); 3) needs for social connections (communication, respect, friendship); 4) prestige needs (for career growth, recognition, achieving a certain status); 5) creative needs (for self-realization, disclosure of one’s abilities and capabilities). The “pyramid of needs” proposed by A. Maslow is hierarchical in nature: human needs develop from lower (biological) to higher (social). In his opinion, the needs of each new level become relevant only when the previous needs are satisfied. In particular for citizens developed countries Requests regarding ensuring their civil and political rights are extremely relevant. An extremely high level of material security (per capita GDP exceeds 40 thousand dollars) is no longer sufficient for a full perception of life, active participation in economic processes. In Russia, on the contrary, the mass consumption pattern of citizens demonstrates a strong dependence on material assets. Data from sociological surveys indicate that the needs for food are not met for 9% of the poorest population, and the needs for clothing items are relevant for another 22% of citizens. In other words, a third of society objectively does not have the ability to form higher-order needs, taking into account limited income.

Due to limited economic resources, it is impossible to achieve simultaneous and complete satisfaction of the needs of all citizens at the same time. “The truth is that society may be able to satisfy all the needs of individuals, but then it deprives others of this, forcing them to move to a lower level of consumption.
nia. Or it can satisfy the individual needs of all people, but then the level of satisfaction of other needs will be much lower than the level of saturation. There is no society that can satisfy all the needs of all citizens not only at the present time, but there will not be one in the future. No matter how well-being increases, the development of technology and culture will always contribute to a further increase in material needs.”

In other words, people's needs for various goods have no saturation limit.

In the process of satisfying needs, individuals maximize utility at minimal costs, that is, they behave rationally. The eminent Austrian economist J. A. Schumpetter notes that man's ability to act as a rational being, as a “logical animal” is tantamount to Darwin's theory of the struggle for survival. Just as the human thumb developed in this struggle, the human brain develops in the process of solving economic problems.

The idea of ​​a person as a rationally acting subject is associated, first of all, with the model of economic man (homo economicus), proposed by A. Smith. A. Smith derived the origin of the most important social institutions (community, division of labor, money, etc.) from the nature of man, who is guided by his own selfish interests and the improvement of his situation. These “natural efforts” of an individual are a constant stimulus for the economic progress of the entire society.

In modern scientific literature, the acronym REMM (resourceful, evaluative, maximizing man) is used to designate an economic man, which means “resourceful, evaluative, maximizing man.” This model
assumes that a person, following his utility function, behaves rationally. This provides the following conditions:

The information necessary to make a decision is fully available to the individual;

A person follows his own selfish interests, and does not take into account how the well-being of other people will change as a result of his actions;

Economic exchange leads to utility maximization and there are no external constraints on it.

Since the neoclassical model of the rational person does not take into account the possibility of the decisions of some people influencing the decisions of others, alternative models of the social person have arisen. They are presented in the studies of the Dutch sociologist S. Lindenberg.

The first model (acronym SRSM) is a socialized person in a role and a person who can be subject to sanctions. This model characterizes a person who is completely controlled by society. In order to fully socialize citizens, it is provided for both the assignment of public functions to them and the possibility of limiting their rights and freedoms.

The second model (acronym OSAM) is an opinionated, receptive, active person. This person has his own opinion regarding the processes taking place in society. Receptivity means the dependence of an individual's behavior on public assessments. At the same time, this type of behavior is devoid of ingenuity and limitations that are inherent in the rational type of behavior.

The institutional approach has enriched the model of human behavior with assumptions about bounded rationality generated by the conditions of uncertainty and risk that accompany choice. Bounded Rationality Model

G. Simon characterizes the decision-making process as the search and acceptance of a satisfactory option. At every moment in time, a person has a certain “level of aspirations”. Choosing a satisfactory option requires less information and calculation from him than in the neoclassical model. There is no need to have accurate information about the outcome of a given option and compare it with the outcomes of alternative options within general function usefulness. An intuitive idea that a given choice is above or below an acceptable level is sufficient.

The postulate of limited resources is the starting point of positive economics. Economic resources (or factors of production) are the elements used to produce economic goods. Society's resources consist of land (natural resources), capital, labor and entrepreneurship. For the first time, the systematization of resources was given in the theory of factors of production by the French economist, a follower of A. Smith-J.B. Say.

The primary factor of production in all systems is land or natural resources. These include Live nature, mineral, forest and water resources, land. The peculiarity of land as an economic resource is that, firstly, it has an unlimited service life and is not reproducible at will; secondly, in its origin it is a natural factor, and not a product of human labor; thirdly, the land is not amenable to movement, free flow from one industry to another, from one region to another; fourthly, land used in agriculture, with rational exploitation, not only does not wear out, but also increases its fertility.

Capital is a concept used to denote an economic resource created by people to increase the productive power of their labor. Unlike land, capital has
limited service life, as it is subject to physical and moral wear and tear. Capital in the physical sense refers to productive goods that are fully expended in the production process ( working capital) or in parts (fixed capital). Single-use assets (raw materials, materials) pay for themselves after each production cycle, while assets used in production for a long period (buildings, machinery and equipment) pay for themselves over their service life. In addition, the concept of “capital” is also used to refer to financial assets.

The degree of depreciation of fixed capital (fixed production assets) in Russia is extremely high. Federal departments estimate it at the level of 45-65%, and research centers of the Russian Federation - at least 60-65%. For comparison, we note that the level of capital depreciation in the group of BRICS countries does not exceed 35% 1 . Wear and tear is especially high in the mechanical engineering sub-sectors, where it approaches 70%. The level of production of machine tools in the country decreased from 70 thousand units in 1991 to 3.3 thousand in 2012, namely, by 20 times. During this period, the number of machine tools in the country decreased from 2 million units to 1.5 million units, annual losses due to disposal amounted to 50 thousand units [V] .

In this regard, the priority tasks for the development of production in modern stage becomes technological modernization. At the first stage, it provides for a massive renewal of capital in sectors and industries with potential competitiveness (raw materials sector, agriculture, aviation industry, transport engineering). Subsequently, income received from the sale
These investments are directed towards ensuring technological modernization of the bulk of manufacturing industries.

Labor as an economic activity represents the physical and mental efforts of people in the production process. Neoclassical economics is based on the primacy of the human factor in relation to others, taking into account the interests of the human person. There are other definitions of this factor, incl. labor force, human factor, labor resources of society.

When assessing the potential of a society from the point of view of labor, the indicator of the economically active population is most often used, namely the share of labor resources that directly supplies labor in the labor market. Currently in Russia the economically active population is 75,676 thousand people, of which 71,545 thousand people (94.0%) are directly employed in the economy.

Along with the quantitative characteristics of labor, it is used quality characteristic. The educational structure is an indicator of the quality of the workforce employed population, professional qualification structure, unemployment rate, gender and age structure. The educational structure of the workforce most closely reflects the level of development human capital. To date, Russia is the world leader in the share of people with high formal education. According to the international classifier, this category of persons includes workers with tertiary education type A (Russian equivalent - higher education) and tertiary education type B (Russian equivalent - secondary professional education). According to statistics, 56% of the employed population of Russia belongs to people with high formal education (29% - high
neck and 27% - secondary professional). Regarding employed people aged 25-64 years, the share of people with higher education increases to 31%, of people with secondary education - 37%.

At the same time, the scale of underutilization of human capital in our market is impressive. According to experts, about a third of all workers with high formal education are employed in jobs that do not require high qualifications. This means that the knowledge and skills acquired by workers in the formal education system are either not used due to a lack of high-productivity jobs, or are different low quality. Losses in human capital are equivalent to a drop in labor efficiency and a lag in labor productivity in comparison with similar indicators in developed countries. If the level of GDP per capita in Russia is within the boundaries of a moderately developed country (below 30 thousand dollars, per person at purchasing power parity), then the gap between the highly educated workforce and the low productivity of its labor will persist and even grow.

Entrepreneurship is a special form of farming, which is based on the individual’s independent initiative, creativity, responsibility for the results and consequences of their activities. In this capacity, entrepreneurship acts as the most important factor of production, setting in motion other factors. Thus, the function of the organizer and controller is basic in relation to this concept. At the same time, the entrepreneur implements new combinations of production factors, expands sales markets, and seeks new forms of organizing production. It is this innovative feature that you will receive
la development in the concept of entrepreneurship by J. A. Schumpetter. In his famous study, “The Theory of Economic Development,” he characterizes entrepreneurship as a process of “creative destruction” aimed at overcoming the inertia of the economic system. “We call entrepreneurs economic entities whose function is precisely the implementation of new combinations and who act as active subjects of the enterprise,” the author notes in his study.

The innovative mission of entrepreneurship is especially relevant in currently in connection with Russia's transition to a socially oriented innovative development model. In particular, the development of venture investment is a direct form of participation of private business in the financing and development of innovative projects. By investing in the capital of a promising enterprise, venture companies contribute to its formation at an early stage of development. No less important participants in the innovation process are entrepreneurs called business angels. In this case, financing is provided for a long term, without collateral or guarantees, for a share of capital in the company. In addition to finance, business angels bring valuable contributions to the company - experience in its field of activity and management skills, which companies at the initial stages usually lack, as well as their connections. Thanks to the help of business angels, Intel, Yahoo, Amazon, Google, Fairchild Semiconductors and many other leading technology brands emerged.

The relative scarcity of resources means that they are limited compared to the unlimited needs of citizens. There is also an absolute limit
resource availability, understood as their physical exhaustibility. The depletion of the resource base intensified during the period of industrialization of the world economy: in the period after the Second World War, humanity consumed more raw materials than in its entire previous history.

The issue of sufficiency of energy resources has become especially acute. In 1956, American geologist Marion King Hubbert presented his theory: the oil production process always follows a bell-shaped curve. At first it grows until it reaches the top, and then falls uncontrollably. The Hubbert curve, discovered exactly 50 years ago, reflects the truth with scientific precision: oil is a non-renewable resource, its reserves are declining at a high rate. Other important energy sources - natural gas, coal, uranium - are subject to the same process. According to scientists, the amount of oil consumed every second is about 1000 barrels. For example, each German consumes 225 tons of brown and hard coal, 116 tons of oil, 40 tons of steel, 1.1 tons of copper and 200 kg of sulfur in his life. The US Federal Office of Geosciences and Raw Materials predicts that the so-called mid-depletion will be reached within the next 10 to 20 years, according to its latest study. That is, half of the total crude oil reserves will be used up. It is at the moment when oil production throughout the world reaches its maximum that for the first time in history a physical shortage of energy raw materials will arise: production volumes will begin to fall, while consumption, according to all forecasts, will continue to grow. Currently, 33 of the 48 largest producing countries have reached or exceeded this threshold. These include Great Britain and Norway, since better times The North Sea is behind us: over 5 years, production here has decreased by more than 20%. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, producing about 10 million barrels per day, uses its production capacity at
limit. The main Saudi field - the largest oil field on the planet, Ghawar (5 million barrels per day) - is being depleted. [X] Depletion of the world's largest deposits, excessive taxation oil companies, rising investment costs, taking into account the specifics of production, lead to stagnation of production in most oil countries. If current trends continue, Russia, according to Russian and American geologists, will reach a balance of production and domestic demand for hydrocarbons in the range from 2019 to 2028. Such a balance, when a country turns from an oil exporter into its main consumer, is indisputable evidence that peak production has passed.

There is also a more optimistic assessment regarding the forecast for resource use. According to it, the potential of raw material resources is far from being exhausted, and there are huge deposits, for example, in the Arctic. Moreover, thanks to innovative methods It was always possible to extract more raw materials than expected. Such forecasts are based on a simple calculation: the reserves of already developed deposits of raw materials are correlated with the annual consumption of the corresponding resources. According to these calculations, there will be enough crude oil for more than 40 years, gas for more than 60 years, and coal for as much as 200 years.

Gas, which is more economical and environmentally friendly, is becoming increasingly important among energy resources. Only 18% of the estimated total potential has already been used. Large gas reserves, like crude oil, are located in politically unstable areas in Russia, Iran and Qatar: these three states hold approximately 56% of the world's total reserves. They should last for several more decades.

The most important task and goal of the development of any economic system is to meet the needs of society. Let us consider in more detail the content of such an economic category as need. Need- the need for something necessary or the lack of something necessary to maintain a person’s life, the development of his personality and society as a whole. Need can be characterized as a state of dissatisfaction that can be overcome through the use of certain goods (goods and services). The needs of a person, of the entire human society, are diverse.

There are many options for classifying needs. Economists have one classification criteria, psychologists have others, and sociologists have others. The most widespread is the hierarchy of needs of the American economist Abraham Maslow, who arranged all needs in ascending order. The needs of the first level include the physiological needs of a person (food, water, shelter, sex). The need for a safe physical and emotional environment (absence of wars, violence) is the second level. At the third level are the needs for social connections (respect, friendship, love). At the fourth level there are needs for self-esteem (approval from family, friends, society). The fifth level is the needs of self-actualization (education, religion, hobbies). Maslow considered the first two levels of needs to be lower, and all subsequent levels to be higher. According to his theory, the needs of the lower levels must initially be satisfied, and only after that the needs of the higher level manifest themselves and require satisfaction.

With all their diversity, all needs have a common property: they are limitless or completely insatiable. The needs of both one person and the entire human society cannot be fully satisfied, since they are very diverse and numerous. In addition, needs are constantly multiplying. This feature of them finds expression in law of rising needs. The variety of needs and their constant quantitative and qualitative growth are explained by a number of reasons. Firstly, needs are growing quantitatively due to the growth of the Earth's population itself. Thus, in mid-1950, the world population, according to United Nations estimates, was 2.5 billion people, in 2000 - already 6.0 billion people, and according to forecasts in 2015 it will be 7.5 billion Human. The larger the population of a particular country, or the planet as a whole, the more needs are formed. Secondly, the growth and development of needs is explained by the fact that humanity itself is developing. Each historical era had its own needs and its own possibilities for satisfying them. As society progresses, people encounter more and more objects that awaken their curiosity, interest and desire. Thirdly, the achievements of scientific and technical progress contribute to the formation of new needs. The modern capitalist economy is characterized by the fact that the novelty of goods is a key factor in competitiveness. Taken together, the needs are limitless. Due to quantitative and qualitative growth, it is completely impossible to satisfy them. Therefore, the ultimate goal of economic activity is maximum, and not complete satisfaction of needs.

Benefits are used to satisfy needs. Benefits are the result of the production process and satisfy the needs of both the individual and the entire society. Good is any means, both material and intangible, capable of satisfying needs. It is necessary to distinguish between non-economic and economic benefits. Non-economic (free) benefits- goods that are available in sufficient quantities to satisfy the needs of everyone. They are not the result of anyone's activity and cannot be appropriated by anyone. Satisfying the needs for such benefits does not require any effort or expense. Such benefits include, first of all, natural phenomena - air, water, sunny day, etc. Economic benefits- the result of economic activity. Their creation requires certain efforts from society, and their quantity cannot satisfy the needs of everyone. Such goods are furniture, cars, legal services, equipment, etc. Economists, both practitioners and theorists, are primarily interested in economic goods. In a market economy, goods are understood as goods and services. Product- a product of labor intended for exchange through purchase and sale. A product is understood as everything that can satisfy people's needs and is offered to the market. A service is any activity or benefit that is largely intangible and does not result in ownership of anything.

Economic resources, their types. Limited resources

The goods necessary to satisfy needs are created in the production process. Production- adaptation by humanity of matter (resources) to satisfy its needs. In other words, the basis of any production is the resources that society has. Resources- the opportunities available to society to create goods and satisfy needs. Resources involved in the production of goods and services are called factors of production.

Economic theory distinguishes two groups of resources - material and human. Material resources are capital and land, human resources are labor and entrepreneurial ability. Various combinations of these factors are used to produce a wide variety of goods and services. Concept "Earth" covers all natural resources: arable land, forests, mineral deposits, water and climatic resources, etc. Peoples and states are located on the earth, in a certain space. Historically, some states have large territories - Russia (17,075 thousand km 2), USA (9629.0), China (9560 thousand km 2), while others have smaller ones - Andorra (467 km 2), Liechtenstein (160 km 2), San Marino (61 km 2), Monaco (2 km 2). The land can be used for both agricultural (growing crops) and non-agricultural (construction of buildings, structures, roads) needs. The planet's agricultural land covers 51 million km2. On average, there is 0.3 hectares of arable land per capita in the world. The size of arable land per capita is significantly differentiated by different countries. For example, in the USA there are 0.67 hectares of arable land per capita, and in Japan only 0.03 hectares. In addition, in the depths of the earth there are various minerals. For example, Saudi Arabia has more than 25% of proven oil reserves, Russia has the world's largest proven reserves of natural gas - about 40%, and the United States ranks first in the world in proven coal reserves - 26%.

Concept "capital"- one of the main ones in theory market economy. Considering capital as a factor of production, economists understand by it the means of production created by people, including infrastructure (machines, equipment, buildings, structures, transport, communications, etc.). Capital is a durable resource created for the purpose of production more goods and services. Capital embodied in the means of production is called real capital. Capital not yet invested in production is the amount of money. Money capital, or capital in monetary form, represents investment resources. Money capital is used to purchase machinery, equipment and other means of production. The process of production and accumulation of means of production is called investment. Capital is a product of labor and, for this reason, is limited in nature.

Concept "work" denote the physical and mental abilities of people used in the production of goods and services. Labor resources- this is the working population with physical development and mental abilities necessary to carry out production activities. Labor resources are represented by the population of working age. In Russia, working age is considered to be: for men 16-59 years (inclusive), for women - 16-54 years (inclusive). Working age limits vary across countries. In some, the lower limit is 14-15 years, and in others - 18 years. The upper limit in many countries is 65 legs for everyone or 65 legs for men and 60-62 goals for women. It is obvious that the labor resources of both an individual country and the global economy are also limited. Today, industrialized countries and countries with economies in transition are characterized by demographic aging of the population, when the number of working-age population is only slightly larger than the number of pensioners. In 1950, there were 12 people aged 15-64 for every pensioner. Today the world average is 9, and according to forecasts it is expected to decrease to 4. While labor resources grow quantitatively along with population growth, qualitatively - as education develops. In terms of the level of higher education, Russia is in fourth place in the world (after Israel, Norway and the USA) 2 . The adult literacy rate in Russia is 99.6% and is the highest in the world; 95% of the population has secondary education. For comparison: this figure is in Germany, the country with the most high level education in the EU - 78%, in the UK - 76%, in Spain - 30%, in Portugal - less than 20%.

Concept "entrepreneurial ability" presupposes the ability to effectively use all other economic resources in business activities in order to make a profit. The concept of entrepreneurship in economics appeared in the 18th century, and the entrepreneur was often identified with the owner. Today, entrepreneurs include company owners; managers who are not their owners; business organizers, who are both the owner and manager in one person. Entrepreneurial ability (enterprise, entrepreneurial potential, entrepreneurial resource) consists of the ability to organize and manage production, the ability to navigate market conditions. The entrepreneur is the central figure in a market economy. The importance of entrepreneurial ability for the economy is revealed through the functions that an entrepreneur performs. Firstly, the entrepreneur, having combined all other economic resources (land, capital, labor) and starting the production process, takes responsibility for its successful implementation and makes the main decisions in the course of running the business. Secondly, successful entrepreneurship today is impossible without innovation. An entrepreneur is engaged in the development and implementation of innovations - new products, technologies, new information. And thirdly, any entrepreneur takes risks. Entrepreneurship involves exploring new markets, entering into deals with new suppliers and customers, producing new goods and services, and using new technologies that no one is sure of their effectiveness. Risk is an inevitable component entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurial resource is a rare gift. Researchers at Harvard Medical Center have developed a test to measure a person's abilities in a variety of areas. They found that only 1% of people are gifted with “exceptional creativity,” that is, they have the ability to achieve outstanding achievements in the arts and business; 10% have “high creative potential”; another 60% have “moderate or some” creative potential; less than 30% of people do not show their creative activity at all or to a very small extent." Today, many experts note that economic theory how science is related to psychology, which, in turn, is related to genetics. It has been proven that one form of the dopamine receptor gene causes an increased craving for new experiences in people. In Americans, this allele occurs on average 25 times more often than in other inhabitants of the planet, which largely determines the level of entrepreneurial activity in the United States.

Factors of production are the property of various economic entities who are ready to provide them for a certain fee for productive use. Payment for the use of land is rent, capital is interest, labor is wages, and entrepreneurial ability is profit.

Thus, all economic resources have a common property: they are limited or rare.

Economic efficiency

Efficiency problem- the most important problem of the economy. Economic activity at both the micro and macro levels requires constant comparison of results and costs, and determination of the most effective course of action. In general, efficiency means carrying out a process with minimal costs, effort and losses. Economic efficiency- an indicator determined by the ratio of the economic effect (result) and the costs that gave rise to this effect (result). In other words, the smaller the cost and the larger the result of economic activity, the higher the efficiency. The concept of economic efficiency is applicable both to the activities of an enterprise and to the functioning of the entire economic system. It should be borne in mind that the effectiveness of an individual economic unit is not identical to the effectiveness of the economic system. There are significant differences in determining economic efficiency at the level of an individual economic unit or the entire economic system.

The economic efficiency of an individual enterprise is assessed according to a number of indicators. For example, in the statistics of the former USSR, more than 500 indicators were used for such an assessment. The technical aspect of efficiency is assessed by the quality of the raw materials, materials, and semi-finished products used; the progressiveness of the technology used, the level of qualifications of workers, etc. The economic aspect of efficiency is assessed through the efficiency of resource use (resource or factor efficiency) and overall efficiency indicators. Resource efficiency determined by the relationship of the result with one of the factors of production (labor, capital, materials, etc.). Examples of resource efficiency indicators are labor productivity, material productivity, and material intensity.

Labor productivity is the main indicator of efficiency. Today, hourly productivity in Russia is 4 times lower than in Italy, France - 3.8 times, USA - 3.6 times, Japan and Germany - 2.8 times. According to a study conducted by the International Labor Organization, labor productivity per person per year is: in the USA - $63,885, Ireland - $55,986, Luxembourg - $55,641, Russia - $18,000.

Overall efficiency is considered as the ratio of the result to the total current costs and is calculated as follows:

Economic efficiency = Result / Costs

Overall economic efficiency is expressed in profitability indicators calculated as follows:

Profitability = Profit / Capital Employed

Profitability = Profit / Production Costs

An economic system will be considered effective when the needs of all members of society are most fully satisfied given the limited resources. Economic efficiency of the economic system- a state in which it is impossible to increase the degree of satisfaction of the needs of at least one person without worsening the position of another member of society (Pareto efficiency of the economic system). The activity of an economic entity (enterprise, firm) is considered effective if it is carried out with minimal costs of production factors. Efficiency in production- a situation where, given the level of knowledge and the number of factors of production, it is impossible to produce a larger quantity of one good without sacrificing the ability to produce a certain amount of another good (Pareto-efficient allocation of resources in production).

For your information. Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923) - Italian economist and sociologist, representative of the mathematical school in political economy. He was engaged in the study of problems of general economic equilibrium, formulated the concept of social maximum utility, which today in economic literature is usually called the “Pareto optimum”. The Pareto optimum is intended to evaluate changes that either improve the welfare of everyone or do not worsen the welfare of at least one person while improving the welfare of all members of the economic system.

To assess the effectiveness of the economic system, indicators of the level of economic development of the country are used: the total volume of national production per capita; sectoral structure of the national economy; production of main types of products per capita (electricity, food, durable goods); level and quality of life of the population. In 2005, for the group of OECD countries (the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, which unites economically developed countries), the volume of national production per capita amounted to $33,831, for developing countries - 5282, for the world as a whole - $9543. In Russia, the value of this The indicator amounted to $10,845. In terms of production of main types of products per capita, Russia is in most cases inferior to developed countries. For example, in Russia there are 135 televisions and 33 cars per 100 families, in the USA - 240 and 121, in Japan - 232 and 140, respectively. Thus, in terms of the number of televisions per 100 families, the lag behind developed countries is almost 2 times, cars - 4 times. In terms of the number of computers per 1000 people, Russia ranks 38th in the world.

An important indicator of the effectiveness of the economic system is the standard of living of the population. The Human Development Report, published by a specialized international recording body - the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), provides indices of human development in 177 countries of the world, calculated for 2005. The leading position is occupied by Iceland, the second place in the ranking belongs to Norway, the third - to Australia, fifth - Canada, the USA is in 12th place. Sierra Leone has the lowest HDI score. Russia, according to UNDP data, ranked 67th on the list in 2005. According to this indicator, our country is ahead of Panama, Belarus, Mexico, and Uruguay.

IN last years The indicator of economic competitiveness is used as a criterion for the effectiveness of the economic system. World Economic Forum (WEF) project “Competitiveness. The Global Review, dedicated to the study of global competitiveness, has been operating for more than 20 years. In 1999, the economies of 59 countries were analyzed, which together accounted for more than 95% of world production and trade. The WEF notes that as a result of the reforms of the 90s. In the world rankings of competitiveness, our country has dropped to last (59th) place. Recently, WEF experts published another report analyzing the specifics of doing business in 125 countries. In the 2006 competitiveness ranking, Russia is in 62nd place, having lost nine points over the year (53rd place in 2005). For comparison, China and India rank 40th and 50th in this ranking, respectively. Economically developed countries retain first place.

The competitiveness indicator cannot fully characterize the economic efficiency of a country, but it fairly reliably assesses one of all sides. The category of competitiveness is one of the key ones, since it expresses the economic, scientific, technical, production and other capabilities of the country’s economy.

Any economic unit strives to efficiently use rare resources, i.e. obtain the maximum amount of useful goods produced from these resources. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to fully utilize (fully occupy) your resources and, on this basis, achieve full production volume. In this regard, the concepts of full employment and full output arise. Full employment- use of all suitable resources (no unemployment, unoccupied production capacity, empty agricultural land, etc.). Full employment does not imply 100% employment of resources, but optimal employment. For example, there cannot be 100% occupancy of agricultural land, since part of the land must be fallow (rest). Full production volume- the use of all suitable economic resources, ensuring the maximum possible volume of production and the most complete satisfaction of needs. Total output assumes that the inputs used make the most valuable contribution to total output. Achieving full production volume is also facilitated by the use of the best available technology.

Production capabilities of society. Production possibility curve

Any economic system faces a dilemma: on the one hand, the needs of society are limitless, completely insatiable; on the other hand, the resources of society necessary for the production of goods are limited or rare. The problem of limited resources is a fundamental economic problem.

Limited goods means that for any individual and society as a whole, most goods and services are limited, that is, they are not enough to satisfy all needs. Limited resources mean that the production capabilities of society are limited, that is, society is forced to produce a limited amount of goods. By increasing the production of one good, society is forced to reduce the production of another. When choosing one production option, you have to sacrifice other options. Society is faced with a choice of which goods to produce and which to refuse. This problem has faced all economic systems in the past, is facing today and will be facing tomorrow.

By using the simplest model Let us consider the production capabilities of society. Let's consider a hypothetical economy in which two goods are produced - X and Y. Let's also assume that the amount of resources and production technology are constant. Let us assume that this economic system is efficient, that is, it operates under conditions of full employment of resources and full volume of production.

If absolutely all resources are directed to the production of good X, then society will receive the maximum amount of it. In this case, good Y will not be produced at all (option A). Another alternative is possible, when all the resources of society are directed to the production of good Y. In this case, good Y is produced in maximum quantity, and good X is not produced (option B). However, society needs both goods at the same time, for which it is necessary to reduce the production of each of these goods below the maximum. In this case, there are many alternative options production combinations of resources and the corresponding production structure (for example, options C, D, E). This situation can be depicted graphically. Let us plot the quantity of good X horizontally, and the quantity of good Y vertically. As a result, we obtain a production possibilities curve. Each point on this curve represents a certain combination of two types of goods. For example, point C represents the combination Xc pcs. goods X and Yc pcs. product Y.

Shows the maximum possible volume of simultaneous production of two goods with given resources and technologies available to a given society.

The economy is efficient, when all points of possible combinations of production of two goods are on the production possibilities frontier (i.e. A, B, C, D, E). The economic system is inefficient, when various combinations of production of two goods are to the left of the production possibilities frontier (point F). In this case, the resources of society are not fully occupied (unemployment, underutilization of production capacity, backward technology). Point F represents a combination of goods X and Y that is significantly less than could be produced with full and effective use available resources. Society must do whatever is necessary to move to the production possibilities frontier. For a society that has a certain supply of resources and knowledge and ensures the full volume of production, point G is currently unattainable. Any economic system at any given time has disabilities and cannot move beyond the production possibilities frontier.

The problem of choice is the main problem associated with limited resources. However, limited resources lead to the emergence of several more. Such problems are competition, rationing and discrimination. Since there are many options for using resources, and the supply of these resources is limited, competition inevitably arises. Competition- economic competition between commodity producers aimed at obtaining at their disposal the largest number resources. Rationing- a distribution system that establishes the maximum amount of a good or resource that an economic unit can acquire. Rationing is a method of distributing a good or resource whose supply is lower than demand. In a free market this situation does not arise. At one time, rationing was widely practiced in our country, which since 1917 has experienced various types of shortages and the subsequent rationing. As an exceptional measure, rationing also takes place in the economies of developed countries. For example, in the USA during World War II it was quite effective. Discrimination- restriction or deprivation of access to any benefits of certain categories of citizens on the basis of race, nationality, social origin, political views, etc. An example would be discrimination in the labor market.

Opportunity costs. Law of Increasing Opportunity Cost

The production possibilities curve shows that an increase in the production of one good is possible only by simultaneously decreasing the production of another good. The content of the problem of choice is that if the economic resource used to meet the needs of society is limited, then there is always the possibility of its alternative use. What society refuses is called the opportunity (hidden or alternative) costs of achieving the chosen result. Let's compare points C and D. Having chosen point C, society will prefer to produce more goods Y (Y c) and less goods X (X C) than choosing point D and producing goods Y - Y D, and goods X - X D. When moving from point C to point D, society will receive an additional amount of good X ( Δ X = X D - X c), sacrificing a portion of this certain amount of good Y( Δ Y= Y C - Y D). Opportunity Cost of any good - the amount of another good that must be sacrificed in order to obtain an additional unit of this good.

The production possibilities curve is concave from the origin, demonstrating that an increase in the production of one good is accompanied by an increasing decrease in the production of another good. Based on these observations, we can formulate law of increasing opportunity cost: In a full-employment economy, as production of one good increases per unit, more and more of another good must be sacrificed. In other words, the production of each additional unit of good Y is associated for society with the loss of an increasing amount of good X. The operation of the law of increasing opportunity costs is explained by the specifics of the resources used. The production of alternative goods uses both general-purpose and specialized resources. They vary in quality and are not completely interchangeable. A rationally acting economic entity will first involve in production the most suitable, and therefore the most effective, resources, and only after they are depleted - less suitable ones. Therefore, when producing an additional unit of one good, universal resources are initially used, and then specific, less efficient resources are involved in production, which can only be partially used. In addition, in the production of alternative goods, consumption rates for the same materials differ significantly. In conditions of scarcity and lack of interchangeability of resources, opportunity costs will increase as the production of an alternative good expands. If any unit of input were equally capable of producing alternative goods, then the production possibilities curve would be a straight line.