way of producing wealth. The evolution of society and wealth
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Introduction
1. Production of material goods Fundamentals of the life of human society
2. Production and resources. The problem of limited resources
3. Main economic problems facing the society
4. Ways and factors to improve the efficiency of social production in the Republic of Belarus
Conclusion
List of sources used
Introduction
Classical bourgeois political economy reached its highest development in the works of the British scientists A. Smith and D. Ricardo, when Great Britain was the most economically advanced country. Britain had a relatively highly developed agriculture, a rapidly growing industry, and an active foreign trade. Capitalist relations were greatly developed in it. Here the main classes of bourgeois society stood out: the bourgeoisie, workers, landowners.
At the same time, the expansion of capitalist relations was fettered by numerous feudal orders. The bourgeoisie saw the main enemy in the nobility and was interested in a scientific analysis of the capitalist mode of production in order to identify the prospects for social development.
Thus, in Great Britain in the second half of the 18th century, favorable conditions developed for the rise of economic thought, which was the work of A. Smith.
1. Production of material goods. Fundamentals of the life of human society
The concept of "method of production of material goods" was first introduced into the social function by Marx and Engels. Each method of production is based on a certain material and technical basis. The method of production of mater goods is a certain type of human activity, a certain way of obtaining the means of subsistence necessary to satisfy the mater. and spiritual needs. The mode of production of material goods is the dialectical unity of productive forces and production relations.
Productive forces are those forces (human resources, means and objects of labor) with the help of which society influences nature and changes it. Means of labor (machines, machine tools) are a thing or a complex of things that a person places between themselves and the object of labor (raw materials, auxiliary materials). The division and cooperation of public PS contributes to the development of mater. production and society, the improvement of tools, the distribution of mater. benefits, wages.
The relations of production are relations concerning the ownership of the means of production, the exchange of activities, distribution and consumption. The materiality of P. O. is expressed in the fact that they are formed in the process of material production, exist independently of the consciousness of people, and are objective.
Society is a certain set of interacting people whose goal is to maintain their lives, produce and reproduce the conditions of their existence. A single individual could not constitute a social group, whatever it may be, could not be a "society", and his consciousness could not be social, i.e. he was not a person either. Society arises historically in the presence of a certain minimum of interacting individuals who, despite their originality, have common needs, interests and goals. One of these goals is joint labor activity, through which food is obtained, housing is built, etc., and at the same time the initial thinking and means of communication - language - develop. Labor was the source of the emergence and development of society. Labor (as an integral social phenomenon) refers to material activity, to the material sphere of society.
Human labor includes several aspects, including the spiritual component - purposefulness. Activity, in fact, is characteristic of many representatives of the animal world, for example, beavers building dams, birds creating nests. But human labor activity differs from such "work" in that it is based not so much on instinct as on awareness of the goal, on the ideal. Human labor is inseparable from the consciousness that begins historically or develops in the future, from the setting of more and more branching goals. Labor activity associated with the development of not only new phenomena, but also the essence of objects, forms new ideal models and encourages their implementation. The purposefulness of activity (although it is sometimes both chaotic and instinctive) is a characteristic feature of a person.
The creative-culturological understanding of labor in no way underestimates the role of its economic interpretation. If we do not complete the characterization of labor by its culturological scale, but, on the contrary, start from it and go in our consideration in depth and into the correlation of types of labor, then we will eventually come to the conclusion that the first concept (or rather, the first approach) is the original , the starting point for understanding labor, and society as a whole. Indeed, in order to write novels, create musical works, manage people, etc., it is necessary that a writer, musician or manager have food, clothing and much more from material things, and all this, as you know, does not fall out of the clouds, as rain, but is produced by people in their material and production sphere. Scientists need many devices (microscope, encephalograph, etc., even paper or pencil, which they use and which they receive from material and production activities. But if other types of labor are taken out of this activity, which is permissible, then reduce them it is impossible to approach it; it is also necessary to see the originality of different types of labor activity that characterize the multifaceted nature of society, its material and spiritual culture.
Whatever concept of working people we adhere to (and we must still admit that from a philosophical point of view the second one is more correct, which, by the way, includes, with certain reservations and limitations, the first one), the understanding of labor remains basically the same. Labor is the material basis for the functioning and development of society.
Let us now get acquainted directly with the structure of material production (spiritual production belongs to the spiritual sphere of society). Traditionally, productive forces and production relations are distinguished here.
Labor is the basis of material production, the basis of the productive forces of society. Paying tribute to tradition, we can point out that the productive forces consist of: means of labor and people armed with certain knowledge and skills and putting these means of labor into action. The means of labor include tools, machines, machine complexes, computers, robots, etc. By themselves, of course, they cannot produce anything. The main productive force is people; but they themselves do not constitute productive forces either. Noting that people are the main productive force, we mean their potential to become such a force; and most importantly - their connection, interaction with the means of labor and production (in the process of such interaction) of material goods, means of providing services (including in healthcare, science, education) and means of production. People represent living labor (or a personal element of production), and the means of labor are accumulated labor (or a material element of production). All material production is a unity of living and accumulated labor. These are the two sides, or subsystems, of the productive forces, as they were presented in most philosophy textbooks up until the 1990s. However, such an idea, based on the Marxist tradition, turns out to be insufficiently complete. Increasingly, technology (or technological process), production process control, including the inclusion of computers in it, are added to the subsystems of the productive forces. This third subsystem is supplemented by another fourth subsystem - the production and economic infrastructure. It includes parts, or elements, of the economic process that are of a subordinate, auxiliary nature, ensuring the normal functioning of a particular enterprise, a set of enterprises within a particular region or the national economy as a whole. The production and economic infrastructure includes transport, railways and highways, industrial and residential (related to a particular department) buildings, utilities that provide production, etc. Knowledge (or science) should also be referred to the productive forces. K. Marx already noted that science was becoming (this was the case in the 19th century) the productive force of society. He believed that scientific knowledge is the "universal productive force"; the accumulation of knowledge and skills, according to K. Marx, is the essence of "the accumulation of the general productive forces of the social brain." Subsequently, orthodox Marxists, until the end of the 20th century, continued to declare, apparently fearing accusations of revisionism, that the productive forces consist of only two subsystems, while science allegedly continues to “become” a productive force even in the 20th century. Meanwhile, already from the beginning of the newest scientific and technological revolution, i.e., approximately from the middle of the 20th century, a phenomenon of historical significance became apparent, which was the transformation of science into the direct productive force of society. D. Bell, for example, wrote in 1976 that the main features of a post-industrial society include, first of all, "the central role of theoretical knowledge." He explained: “Each society has always relied on knowledge, but only today the systematization of the results of theoretical research and materials science becomes the basis of technological innovation. development over the last third of a century.
The key place in the system of production relations is occupied by property (sometimes it is interpreted as "property relations"). Economic relations of ownership have legal registration, are fixed by legal acts.
Property relations are of different types - possession, non-ownership, co-ownership, use, disposal. A special form of ownership is intellectual and spiritual: for works of art, scientific discoveries, etc.
At the very beginning of the development of society, there was no property as such (on things, on people); it was, more correctly, personal property within the tribe, community and having the name (taking into account the fact that people were forced to cooperate with their means and efforts in hunting, fishing, farming) "communal", "tribal", "totally personal". When cooperating, the division of labor was also used - between women and men, between adults and children, between people with different skills, etc., and the distribution of the benefits received was carried out with the installation not to allow either oneself or one's relatives to die. Later (with the improvement of the means of labor, the division of labor activities, etc.), such an amount of food and other benefits began to arise that individuals could feed not only themselves, but also some fellow tribesmen or people of another tribe; it became possible not to kill people captured in clashes with another group, but to use them as labor force and thereby accumulate property (the prisoners themselves - producers of material goods - were considered things).
2. Production and resources.Resource constraints
Modern problems of irrational use of resources
It is clear that resources are indeed limited and should be treated sparingly. With the irrational use of resources, it is necessary to talk about the problem of their limitations, because if you do not stop the waste of a resource, in the future, when it is needed, it simply will not exist. But, although the problem of scarcity of resources has been clear for a long time, in different countries one can see vivid examples of wasting resources. An important area is the certification of energy-consuming, energy-saving and diagnostic equipment, materials, structures, vehicles and, of course, energy resources. All this is based on a combination of interests of consumers, suppliers and producers of energy resources, as well as the interest of legal entities in the efficient use of energy resources. At the same time, even on the example of the Middle Urals, 25-30 million tons of reference fuel (tce) is consumed annually in the region, and approximately 9 million tce is used irrationally. . It turns out that imported fuel and energy resources (FER) are mostly irrationally spent. At the same time, about 3 million tce can be reduced through organizational measures. Most energy saving plans have exactly this goal, but so far have not been able to achieve it.
Also an example of the irrational use of minerals can be an open pit for coal mining near Angren. In addition, at the previously developed deposits of non-ferrous metals Ingichka, Kuytash, Kalkamar, Kurgashin, losses during the extraction and enrichment of ore reached 20-30%. At the Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Combine, several years ago, such accompanying components as molybdenum, mercury, and lead were not completely smelted from the processed ore. In recent years, due to the transition to the integrated development of mineral deposits, the degree of non-production losses has significantly decreased, but it is still far from full rationalization.
The government approved a program aimed at halting soil degradation, as a result of which the annual damage to the economy is more than 200 million USD.
But so far, the program is only being introduced into agriculture, and at present, 56.4% of all agricultural land is affected by degradation processes of varying degrees. According to scientists, the processes of soil degradation have intensified in recent decades as a result of the irrational use of land resources, a decrease in the areas of protective forest plantations, the destruction of anti-erosion hydraulic structures, and natural disasters. Financing of the program for hydro-reclamation anti-erosion work is envisaged to be carried out at the expense of extra-budgetary funds of interested ministries and departments, funds from the sale and purchase of public property lands, from the collection of land tax, at the expense of economic entities and the state budget. According to experts involved in agricultural support programs, the problem of soil degradation is aggravating every day, but the implementation of the state program is more than problematic in the face of financial deficit. The state will not be able to raise the necessary funds, and the economic entities of the agricultural sector do not have the funds to invest in soil protection measures. In 2003-2004 the government has developed 15 concepts, 16 strategies and 39 state or sectoral programs. How long will it take before the program brings results? And how much land resources will I have time to become useless during this time?
A fundamentally important property of biological resources is their ability to self-reproduce. However, as a result of the ever-increasing anthropogenic impact on the environment and overexploitation, the raw material potential of biological resources is declining, and the populations of many plant and animal species are degrading and endangered. Therefore, in order to organize the rational use of biological resources, it is necessary, first of all, to provide environmentally sound limits for their exploitation (withdrawal), which exclude depletion and loss of the ability of biological resources to reproduce themselves.
3. Main economic problems facing the society
The main economic task is to choose the most efficient way of distributing factors of production in order to solve the problem of limited opportunities, which is caused by the unlimited needs of society and limited resources. An individual can provide himself with the necessary goods in various ways: produce them on his own, exchange them for other goods, receive them as a gift. Society as a whole cannot have everything immediately. Because of this, it must decide what it would like to have immediately, what it can wait to receive, and what it should refuse altogether. Developed countries, for example, make great efforts to improve the production of a limited range of goods in order to achieve some success in the competition with other countries. It can be cars, computers or other goods. Sometimes the choice can be very difficult. The so-called "underdeveloped countries" are so poor that the efforts of most of the labor force are spent only to feed and clothe the population of the country. In such countries, living standards can be raised by increasing production. But since the labor force is fully employed, it is not easy to increase the level of social production. It is possible, of course, to modernize the equipment in order to increase the volume of production. But this requires a restructuring of the national economy. Part of the resources will be switched from the production of consumer goods to the production of capital goods, the construction of industrial buildings, the production of machinery and equipment. Such a restructuring of production will reduce the standard of living in the name of its future increase. However, in countries with low living standards, even a slight decrease in the output of consumer goods can push large numbers of people to the brink of poverty. There are various options for the production of the entire set of goods, as well as each good separately. By whom, from what resources, with the help of what technology should they be produced? Through what organization of production? According to different projects, you can build an industrial and residential building, according to different projects, you can produce cars, use a piece of land. The building can be multi-story or single-story, a car can be assembled on a conveyor belt or manually, a piece of land can be sown with corn or wheat. Some buildings are built by private individuals, others by the state (for example, schools). The decision to build cars in one country is made by a state body, in another - by private firms. Land use can be carried out either at the request of farmers, or with the participation or decision of state bodies. Since the number of created goods and services is limited, the problem of their distribution arises. Who should use these products and services, benefit from them? Should all members of society receive the same share, or should there be poor and rich, what should be the share of both? What should be given priority - intellect or physical strength? The solution of this problem determines the goals of society, the incentives for its development.
4. Ways and factors to improve the efficiency of social production in the Republic of Belarus
The transition to market relations requires profound shifts in the economy - a decisive sphere of human activity. It is necessary to make a sharp turn towards the intensification of production, to reorient each enterprise, organization, and firm towards the full and priority use of qualitative factors of economic growth. There must be a transition to an economy of higher organization and efficiency, with comprehensively developed productive forces and production relations, and a well-functioning economic mechanism. To a large extent, the necessary conditions for this are created by a market economy.
When substantiating and analyzing all indicators of economic efficiency, factors of increasing production efficiency in the main areas of development and improvement of production are taken into account. These areas cover a set of technical, organizational and socio-economic measures, on the basis of which the economy of living labor, costs and resources is achieved, as well as improving the quality and competitiveness of products.
The most important factors for increasing production efficiency here are:
Acceleration of scientific and technological progress, raising the technical level of production, manufactured and mastered products (improving its quality), innovation policy;
Structural restructuring of the economy, its orientation towards the production of consumer goods, the conversion of defense enterprises and industries, the improvement of the reproductive structure of capital investments (the priority is the reconstruction and technical re-equipment of existing enterprises), the accelerated development of science-intensive, high-tech industries;
Improving the development of diversification, specialization and
Cooperation, combination and territorial organization of production, improvement of the organization of production and labor at enterprises and associations;
Denationalization and privatization of the economy, improvement of state regulation, economic accounting and the system of motivation for work;
Strengthening socio-psychological factors, activating the human factor based on the democratization and decentralization of management, increasing the responsibility and creative initiative of employees, comprehensive development of the individual, strengthening the social orientation in the development of production (improving the general educational and professional level of employees, improving working conditions and safety, improving culture production, environmental improvement).
Among all the factors for increasing efficiency and strengthening the intensification of production, a decisive place belongs to the denationalization and privatization of the economy, scientific and technological progress and the revitalization of human activity, strengthening the personal factor (communications, cooperation, coordination, commitment), increasing the role of people in the production process. All other factors are interdependent on these decisive factors.
Depending on the place and scope of implementation, ways to increase efficiency are divided into national (state), sectoral, territorial and intra-production. In the economic science of countries with developed market relations, these paths are divided into two groups: intra-production and external or factors affecting the change in profits and controlled by the company and uncontrollable factors to which the company can only adapt. The second group of factors is specific market conditions, prices for products, raw materials, energy, exchange rates, bank interest, the system of state orders, taxation, tax incentives, etc.
The most diverse group of intra-production factors on the scale of an enterprise, association, firm. Their number and content are specific to each enterprise, depending on its specialization, structure, operating time, current and future tasks. They cannot be unified and uniform for all enterprises.
The transition to a market economy introduces a number of significant adjustments to the theory and practice of assessing economic efficiency, selecting and implementing optimal options for production and economic decisions.
Firstly, the economic responsibility for the taken production and economic decisions is significantly increased in comparison with the substantiation of the effectiveness of the decisions made in the conditions of the total nationalization of the economy, when gratuitous financing of capital investments prevailed and enterprises essentially did not bear material responsibility for the reliability of the assessment and the actual effectiveness of technical and organizational activities, compliance with the design and actual efficiency.
The situation is completely different in a market economy, when the owner of the funds bears full financial responsibility for the final financial results of production activities, i.e. there is a personalization of material and financial responsibility. Under these conditions, the calculations and justification of economic efficiency are no longer of a formal nature, as was the case in a centrally controlled economy, when, as a rule, the design and actual efficiency of decisions made did not match.
Secondly, the increased responsibility for decisions being made is closely related to the increased risk in investment activities and the development of production, when market relations are mainly the regulator of production, here a whole system of insurance, independent examination of projects, and the use of consulting firms are needed.
Thirdly, given the dynamism of production and investment, the importance of assessing the time factor in substantiating and achieving financial results based on discounting (compound interest formulas) is increasing.
Fourth, in contrast to the command-administrative management system in the conditions of market relations and a variety of forms of ownership, instead of uniform, centrally approved economic norms and efficiency standards, individual standards are applied that are formed under the influence of the market. At the same time, individual norms are very dynamic, they change over time under the influence of the market. They are taken into account in the economic justification of the effectiveness of the decisions made (rates of profit for enterprises, depreciation rates, consumption rates of raw materials and materials).
Thus, summing up all of the above, we present all the main ways to increase efficiency in the form of a diagram:
Scientific and technological progress has been and remains the most important factor in increasing the efficiency of social production and ensuring its high efficiency. Until recently, scientific and technical progress proceeded evolutionarily. The advantage was given to the improvement of existing technologies, partial modernization of machinery and equipment. Such measures gave a certain, but insignificant return. There were insufficient incentives for the development and implementation of measures for new technology. Under the current conditions of the formation of market relations, revolutionary, qualitative changes are needed, a transition to fundamentally new technologies, to the technology of subsequent generations - a radical re-equipment of all sectors of the national economy based on the latest achievements of science and technology. The most important directions of scientific and technical progress: wide development of progressive technologies; automation of production; creation; use of new types of materials.
One of the important factors of intensification and increase of production efficiency is the mode of economy. Resource conservation must become a decisive source of meeting the growing demand for fuel, energy, raw materials and materials. Industry plays an important role in addressing all these issues. It is necessary to create and equip the national economy with machinery and equipment that ensures high efficiency in the use of structural and other materials, raw materials and fuel and energy resources, the creation and application of highly efficient low-waste and waste-free technological processes. That is why the modernization of domestic mechanical engineering is so necessary - a decisive condition for accelerating the scientific and technical progress, the reconstruction of the entire national economy. We must not forget about the use of secondary resources.
In the Republic of Belarus, according to the plans of the initiators of market reforms, the solution of the problem of raising the national economy should have occurred automatically, during the transition from the socialist, state form of ownership to the capitalist, private form. The “collapse of the communist system” was supposed to lead to a rapid improvement in economic performance and rising living standards.
However, the expected miracle did not happen. In the course of the reforms, the groundlessness of hopes for an automatic solution to the issues of reviving production became clear. Moreover, the campaign for the denationalization and privatization of state property in many cases turned into a direct destruction of the productive forces, a reduction in output, and theft of state (nationwide) property. Thus, the problem of reforming property relations is not as simple as it seemed, and its results are not so obvious. The explanation for this must be sought in the fact that the problem under consideration includes two separate, albeit closely interrelated aspects:
First, it is the transfer of property relations, inherited from a centrally planned economy, to a liberal-market track;
Secondly, it is a solution to the issue of increasing the overall efficiency of the national economy, ensuring its competitiveness, achieving world indicators in productivity and product quality.
As for the first aspect (market-capitalist reform of property relations), everything is quite clear here. There are many recommendations in this regard, coming from both international organizations and government experts and business circles. Everyone agrees that there are unshakable general laws and principles of the reform policy, the neglect of which means only the repetition of others' and one's own mistakes, and that there is a so-called world market order that forces all countries to bring their economies up to world standards.
There is also consensus on the reform mechanism. It is based on a radical transformation of property relations - the denationalization and privatization of state (republican and municipal) property, support for private entrepreneurship, and the creation of a “real” (“responsible”) owner-owner. If we talk about the rise of national production, bringing it to the world frontiers, then, despite the measures taken, the frequent adjustment of the course of reforms, there are no noticeable shifts in this direction.
Countless recommendations of international financial and banking organizations in terms of reforming property, as well as legislative acts of Belarus on the issues of denationalization and privatization, with inevitable differences, have one thing in common: as a rule, their ultimate targets are to fix the priority of privatization, determine the conditions and mechanisms for its implementation, develop measures to support private entrepreneurship. As the analysis of such documents shows, the formal-administrative-legal side of the matter prevails.
However, the main thing is not even this, but that the reform of property relations, the restructuring of the economy are conceived and carried out exclusively at the level of individual enterprises. Paradoxically, the adopted approach completely loses sight of the aspect of increasing the efficiency of national production as a whole - on its state, national scale. The solution of this key task is, as it were, postponed “for later”, associated with an endless chain of bankruptcies, reorganizations, disaggregation of industrial “giants”, demonopolization and direct liquidation of enterprises.
Increasing the efficiency of production is considered only in relation to individual enterprises. Moreover, efficiency means the achievement of sufficient profitability of production, regardless of the field of activity and products.
One of the main goals of privatization in Russia (as in Belarus) was to increase the efficiency of enterprises. However, the studies conducted, as a rule, do not allow us to conclude that a turning point in efficiency has already occurred and non-state sector enterprises work better than state-owned ones.
However, it should be noted that the results were obtained by direct comparison of the indicators of the economic activity of an enterprise in the two sectors and in this respect are rather rough. Although it can be said from them that non-state enterprises are slightly ahead of state ones. And if we take into account the fact that the conditions of demand for the products of the latter in this period were much more favorable, then we can see that if they were the same for non-state enterprises, then their efficiency would be noticeably higher than for state enterprises.
In order to receive more consumer goods in the future, people are forced to direct part of their current labor to the creation of productive goods - physical capital. Investments are resources spent on the creation of capital goods.
Capital goods in the course of their use wear out and become unusable. Investments can be directed both to the reproduction of depreciated capital goods, which is necessary for the production of consumer goods on the same scale (simple reproduction), and to the production of additional capital goods, which is necessary for the expanded reproduction of consumer goods.
The entire volume of investments made in the economy for some reporting period is called gross investment. Part of the investment going to the reproduction of depreciated capital goods is carried out at the expense of depreciation. The increase in the volume of capital goods occurs due to the expenditure of additional resources, called net investment.
Each time a net investment (capital investment) is made, the existing production physical capital increases by the same value at current prices of net investment.
However, the cost of all production capital will change during this period also under the influence of inflationary processes.
Conclusion
Social production is, first of all, the production of man. But this does not mean at all that social production is the sum of productions, which include the production of man. The entire system of social production in the unity of its constituent parts (material, spiritual and social) is subordinated to the production of man.
Material production forms the basis of social production, because without the production of material conditions and means of life, the very life activity of people is impossible. But in addition to material production, social production also includes spiritual production, production of consumption, production of people and the production of the entire system of social relations, which in their totality constitute the social "fabric" of society. They serve the production and reproduction of man as the top in this peculiar hierarchy.
List of sources used
1. V.Ya. Iokhin "Economic theory", Moscow, JURIST, 2000
2. E.F. Borisov "Economic theory in questions and answers", Moscow, JURIST, 2000
3. Edited by D.D. Moskvin, Fundamentals of Economic Theory. Political Economy”, Editorial URSS, Moscow, 2001
4. Smith A. "An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations." M. 2005
5. S.V. Mocherny, V.N. Nekrasov, V.N. Ovchinnikov, V.V. Secretary V.V.
6. E. Raikhlin “Fundamentals of economic theory. Microeconomic theory of product markets”, Moscow 2000
7. "Economic theory: a course of lectures", Irkutsk, publishing house IGEA, 1996
8. "Economic theory: Reader", comp. E.F. Borisov, Moscow, Higher School, 2000
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1. The concept of production. Material and non-material production. Product of labor, its types
2. Resources and factors of production. Limited resources
and the problem of choice. Production Possibility Curve.
Alternative cost.
To meet the ever-increasing needs of people
certain resources are required. Resources– this is an owl
the totality of all the necessary conditions used to create
good; these are the possibilities that it possesses and which are used
society, in the end, to meet its needs
news.
Resources are divided into exhaustible And inexhaustible,
reproducible And irreproducible. Among the resources
are economic, considered from the point of view of limited
ness and rarity.
There are natural resources, i.e. given by nature(land and
its bowels, forests, waters); labor(people with their skills and abilities
we are of working age); capital(means of production
properties - means and objects of labor) (Scheme 2.4).
The resources involved in the production process take the form
mu production factors. There are such production factors
leadership, How work, land, capital, entrepreneurial
and information (diagram 2.5).
labor process– conscious purposeful activity
man, aimed at transforming the substance of nature for the sake of
satisfaction of their needs. The concept of "labor" is closely related
but with such concepts as "labor force" and "man". working
strength is the ability of a person to work, the totality of physical
and intellectual abilities realized in the process of labor
howling activity. Man is the bearer of labor force. All these three
concepts characterize labor as a factor of production.
Capital as a factor of production means of production
stva used in the production process. They include pre-
methods and means of labor. Means of labor- This thing or complex
things by which or with the help of which a person produces goods. Medium-
labor properties include tools, what a person directly
significantly affects the objects of labor (machines, equipment,
tools). The second element of the means of labor is material conditions
view of labor(buildings, structures, roads, bridges). Third - containers
(tanks, boxes, barrels) used to store raw materials and go-
tovy products.
Objects of labor is what a person's labor is aimed at, or
from which goods are produced. Work items include
objects of labor given by nature(land and minerals),
And raw material(items subjected to human processing and intended
designated for further processing). Raw materials, in turn,
divided by finished products(fit for final consumption
and intended for further processing), and semi-finished
You(objects of labor, for final consumption necessarily require
ongoing improvements). Semi-finished products include pasta,
dumplings, flour, for finished products - milk, bread, apples.
Entrepreneurial Ability is the ability of a human
how to do business. undertaking
Maternal ability includes such characteristic features:
take risks with your own capital; ability to connect
single factors of production; make decisions and take responsibility for them
responsibility; always be creative.
Society's needs are unlimited, but resources are limited.
Limited resources is a problem that everyone faces
business entities - both the poor and the rich, and individuals,
companies and countries. However, this problem is relatively
ny, not an absolute character. First, in the future, the number
resources can change, and secondly, whatever the
the appearance of resources, they are still not enough to satisfy all
unlimited human needs. In conditions of limited
resources, the subject always faces the problem of choice. But by choosing
one option to use the resource, the subject must refuse
from other alternative uses. Alter-
native cost- This the most preferred option
use of a limited resource, which had to be
seem.
The problem of choice finds its expression in the production curve
natural opportunities (KPV) (Scheme 2.6). Production curve
opportunities– is the locus of points (E, L, M,
F, etc.), showing many alternatives
maximum production of two goods with full use
all resources. The curve has a descending form, because to increase
production of one commodity, with constant resources, it is necessary
reduce the production of another good. The curve has a convex
view, since resources are not completely interchangeable. And with more
increase in the production of one commodity, it is necessary to give up everything from
more than the other, i.e., the opportunity cost increases.
Point D on the graph shows a desirable but unattainable
with given resources, the option of producing two goods. Point C
characterizes the option of incomplete use of resources, when
there is a chronic underutilization of production capacities, without
worker.
Over time, when the amount of resources used changes
rises, the production possibilities curve may shift
left or right. When the amount of resources in a country increases
is growing (immigration is growing, the birth rate is growing, new deposits are being discovered
minerals), production possibilities curve
shifts to the right, indicating an increase in the production of goods.
In the event of a reduction in the number of resources used as a result of
tate wars, natural disasters, epidemics, depletion of deposits
minerals production possibility curve
shifts to the left, which indicates a reduction in the volume of
production.
In order to exist, a person must constantly satisfy
satisfy one's needs, which requires certain
resources. Resources are limited, they are always not enough to satisfy
to speak the unlimited needs of the people. Therefore, a person is always
Yes, there is a problem of choice. The disclosure of these issues
this topic is covered.
Need is a person's need for something. Needs
should be distinguished from desires. There are classifications of needs
stey on various grounds. In order of priority good-
satisfying needs are divided into primary (in products
food, clothing, footwear, furniture) and secondary (in education,
health care, tourism, etc.). By shape on demand
divided into material (clothes, shoes, housing), spiritual
(books, music), social (in respect, in work). According to
ku satiety needs can be divided into satiated
(in foodstuffs, consumer durables)
vaniya) and unsaturated (in tourism, sports, self-development). With toch-
from the point of view of the subject, individual needs are distinguished (from
efficient person), collective (groups of people, enterprises)
and public (the needs of society as a whole in public
goods - museums, parks, lighthouses). By direction consump-
properties are divided into personal (individual subjects in subjects
consumption) and production (the needs of enterprises in
means of production), Consumables are the blessings that
which are used by individuals to satisfy their
personal needs (food, clothing, housing,
consumer durables). Means of production
leadership is a set of means of labor (machines, equipment,
with the help of which goods are produced) and objects
labor (raw materials, materials from which goods are produced). Medium-
production is consumed by enterprises (firms) in the process
all the production of goods. By position in the hierarchical system
needs are divided into absolute, real,
potential, real, actual. Absolute Needs
(highest level) represent the ideal, internal
incentive to consume. These are the general needs
clothing, food, spiritual development, etc. They exist for a long
of the entire history of human existence. Valid
needs(second level) are relative
and reflect the objective, that is, consciously meaningful,
human need for specific consumer goods
(commodities and services) necessary for expanding
the reproduction of the labor force and the comprehensive development
personality. They characterize the general potential
society. Real Needs(third level)
be satisfied at any given moment with the available
production capacity and social conditions. Payment-
able needs(fourth level) - these are the needs
which, under market conditions, can be realistically
stolen by certain volumes of supply of goods and services,
and they are necessarily backed by cash. Actual
what needs(lowest, fifth level) determine-
with the amount of means of subsistence, which practically can
ensure the physical survival of a person (Scheme 2.1).
The most common in the economic literature is
etsya classification of needs according to A. Maslow(Scheme 2.2). Sa-
Our lowest needs are physiological. These are the basic requirements
ness. The higher level needs are security. These
All living organisms have two kinds of needs. Needs
in social contacts, in respect - of a higher level, they
are unique to man. The need for self-development is
the highest.
The amount of demand is regulated universal economic
by the law of the rise of needs(Scheme 2.3). In accordance with
in accordance with this law, the magnitude and structure of needs determine
is determined by the level of development of the productive forces.
The level of development of the productive forces, in turn, depends
on the level of human development (his education, qualifications, culture
tours) and means of production.
The magnitude of needs also depends on the education of people,
their income level, environment, age, gender, etc.
The mediating link between the needs of people and the resources with which they can be satisfied is production process.
Some resources are goods ready for consumption. These include air, sunlight, water. But most resources require some form of modification or human action before they become ready-to-consume goods. Before consuming many utilities, they require labor costs for their extraction and appropriation. Under labor, First of all, one should understand "the process that takes place between man and nature, the process in which man, through his own activity, mediates, regulates and controls the metabolism between himself and nature." Initially, labor exists in a pure form, and then it takes the form of production. Historically, the initial and today the simplest forms of labor were and are gathering, hunting, and fishing. They ensure the appropriation of the finished products of nature. In this case, there is labor, but no production.
Production is the process of human impact on the substance of nature in order to create material wealth. In this process, man modifies the substance of nature. At the same time, a change in the substance of nature can occur both under the influence of the forces of nature and under the influence of human labor. The labor process is impossible without the direct participation of man, while the production process can continue without it. For example, growing wheat requires relatively little human involvement in the production process. This is mainly sowing seeds and harvesting and some hydrochemical work provided by the production technology. The rest of the time wheat is grown without human intervention, under the influence of the forces of nature.
Thus, production is not limited to labour. The labor process is the main, but not the only component of the production process. An important role in production is assigned to the natural factor.
The labor process as the main element of the production process is impossible without the presence of its three simple moments: objects of labor, means of labor, and human labor itself.
Objects of labor- this is what is transformed in the process of production of material goods. In the process of labor, a person acts on the objects of labor, modifying them to a state suitable for consumption. Objects of labor that have already undergone the impact of human labor, but are intended for further processing, are called raw material, or raw materials. For example, iron ore in a mine is an object of labor, but not a raw material, since it has not yet been exposed to human labor. And iron ore, intended for use, for example, in metallurgy, is already a raw material and a subject for further processing.
A person does not act on objects of labor with his bare hands. That which he places between himself and the objects of labor, and thereby influences the objects of labor, is called means labor.
Of all the means of labor, the most important are mechanical means of labor - machines, tools, i.e. tools of production. With their help, a person directly affects the objects of labor. The means of labor also include industrial buildings, roads, communications, etc., the so-called vascular system of the production process. The instruments of production belong to the active part of the means of labor, while buildings, structures, etc., to the passive part.
Objects and means of labor in the aggregate are called means of production. During production, they act as real factor.
The third component of the labor process is itself work or purposeful human activity. Labor is the exclusive property of man. Man - and this is one of his main differences from the animal - works consciously, i.e., expediently mediates, regulates and controls the metabolism between himself and nature, produces and reproduces the means of subsistence he needs.
In order to work, people must be bearers work force. Under the labor force is understood the totality of physical and spiritual abilities possessed by the organism, the living personality of a person, which are launched by him whenever he produces any material benefits. In the process of production, labor power acts as personal factor.
Thus , In the process of production, the means of production are material, and labor power is a personal factor of production. Note that not all resources are factors of production, but only those that are used in the production process.
Marx K. and Engels F. Op. - ed. 2nd. - T. 23. - S. 188.
The production process offers at least three conditions: who will do it, with what, and by what means. Therefore, the main factors of production - labor, land, capital - have always been deeply studied by economic science.
Labor is a purposeful human activity aimed at transforming the substance of nature in order to satisfy their needs. In other words, the purpose of the work is to obtain a specific result - a product or service. So, productive labor, according to Alfred Marshall, can be called any labor, with the exception of that which does not achieve the goal, and therefore does not create any utility. A person doing work is a labor force, that is, a set of intellectual, physical and spiritual abilities that are realized in the process of producing certain utilities.
The labor force is an active and dynamic factor of production. The most perfect system of machines, liquid earth resources remain potential factors until they are put into action by man. The miracles that modern means of long-distance communication make, computer systems with which people solve unique scientific fundamental and applied problems, the use of personal computers for domestic purposes - all this is a consequence of programs developed by man and embedded in modern machines. Without human labor, it inspires, they will remain unclaimed, will not work and will not feed people. Only creative, intellectual and physical work can turn them into a means of creating material goods and services.
At the same time, labor force, a factor of production, is effective only in conjunction with material factors - objects and means of labor. The subject of labor is, first of all, the substance of nature, on which human labor is directed. Land occupies a special place here. The earth is the main means of production in agriculture, a pantry of minerals for people, the source of life for all life on the planet. It can be argued that in a sense there are only two factors of production - nature and man.
Another material factor of production is the means of labor, what a person acts on the objects of labor. The main place among the means of labor is occupied by tools of labor - modern machine tools, machines, equipment and their systems. Material factors are usually called the means of production, and together with the labor force - the productive forces of society. The vital activity of people always, and especially in modern conditions, takes place in the process of division of labor and its cooperation. Without close interaction of people of different professions within the framework of the national economy, without international economic integration, which is becoming more and more deep, the modern economy cannot develop more or less effectively. As a result of in-depth economic interaction, a certain type of industrial relations between people is formed.
The very Marxist statement of the mode of production as a unity of productive forces and production relations is hardly vulnerable to serious criticism. Of course, if we abstract from the priority of the class approach and the political conclusions arising from the concept of Karl Marx. In modern conditions, when a person has realized himself and his life as a cosmic phenomenon, the creator and subject of the noosphere - the sphere of the mind, universal human values come to the fore, become decisive, as well as problems, the solution of which is possible only through the efforts of the entire world community. These are global universal problems - preserving the human environment, providing people with food, energy, raw materials, rational development of the resources of the earth, the World Ocean, space.
The nature of the combination of material and personal factors in various economic systems has its own characteristics. Ownership of the means of production plays a decisive role. When the means of production belong to the direct producer, the nature of the combination of material and personal factors is direct, immediate. If the labor force is deprived of the means of production, then the nature of the combination is different. And here there are two options - violence and interest. Violence is characteristic of the era of slavery and totalitarian regimes, and interest is characteristic of the contractual or market system. In a market system, labor power, the means of production are converted into an object of purchase and sale, that is, into capital.
In economic theory, the category "capital" occupies a special place, so discussions about its nature have not stopped for more than one century. Marxism considered capital from class positions as value, which creates surplus value for the capitalist. Additional value is the result of unpaid and appropriated labor of employees. Capital in the Marxist interpretation is an economic category that expresses historically defined social and production relations between the capitalist class and wage labor. The material factors of production, like labor power, are only transformed into capital under conditions of capitalist ownership, inasmuch as they express relations of exploitation and oppression in a class-antagonistic society. The nature of the combination of these factors here is economic coercion, which only superficially resembles the relationship of equal commodity owners.
Other economic schools consider the essence of capital differently. More often, capital is considered an ahistorical category. David Ricardo called the tools of the primitive hunter capital. According to Adam Smith, the embodiment of capital is property from which its owner expects to withdraw income. Jean Baptiste Say, developing Adam Smith's ideas about the essence of capital, considered labor, land and capital as independent sources of income for the respective classes under capitalism. Alfred Marshall referred to capital the entire "accumulated stock of means for the production of material goods and for the achievement of those benefits that are usually considered part of the income." He argued that "a significant part of capital is knowledge and organization, with one part privately owned and the other not." It is superfluous to give here the points of view of other economists - John Clark, John Dewey, Paul Samuelson, since their interpretation of capital, differing in details, generally coincides with the above concepts.
It is necessary to recall the concept of "human capital", which is becoming extremely relevant right now in the context of the increasing role of intellectual labor in modern production. This concept is a development of the idea of Alfred Marshall about the role of knowledge as the embodiment of a significant part of capital. Intelligence, knowledge, high professional level - this is the accumulated "human capital", which, being realized in the daily activities of people, provides them with a high income. Therefore, investing in education, science, culture is an investment in "human capital", as the main engine of scientific and technological progress. It would be very good if not only economists but also politicians in Ukraine understood this truth. Otherwise, the impoverishment of "human capital", and this trend, unfortunately, has had a rather noticeable effect, dooms Ukraine to degradation and stagnation.
Meanwhile, in a post-industrial society, intellect, knowledge, information, generating new production and social technologies, bring humanity to a higher level, a higher degree of social progress.
Modern means of production are accumulated knowledge, materialized information. The rapid development of informatics, which combines the processes of creating, transmitting, storing and using information, the development of global communications through the Internet system, new information technologies (yesterday they seemed like a fantasy, but in modern conditions the reality of post-industrial countries) - all these factors have become powerful catalyst for social progress.
We are talking about entrepreneurship, a specific type of creative work in the field of economic activity. Entrepreneurship is an independent initiative activity of citizens and legal entities aimed at making a profit, carried out at their own risk and under property liability.
Entrepreneur - a person who has unique abilities and qualities, implemented in economic activity. Entrepreneur - leader, organizer, innovator. This is a person who generates new ideas, is focused on innovation, is able to define and formulate a goal, rally the team, direct it to solve the tasks. Will and perseverance are essential features of a real entrepreneur, responsibility for the decision taken is his important quality. He is characterized by the ability to take risks, the desire to ensure profit for the company, he is similar to those who are called businessmen. However, an entrepreneur is a market phenomenon of the highest quality level. The well-known economist and sociologist Joseph Schumpeter believed that profit for an entrepreneur is only a symbol of success. The main thing for him is to embark on an unknown path, where the usual order ends.
Entrepreneurship is the core of life, a "state of mind", a vocation inherent only to the elect. The production process is effective if the interaction of all factors is organized, complement and replace each other in certain combinations. The entrepreneur not only combines the factors of production, but also finds their effective combination, while relying on "human capital" - a resource of unique quality. A leader who is not able to create a team, inspire people with incentives, not necessarily only material ones, will never succeed. Ukraine has yet to find entrepreneurs whose talent and will, multiplied by the efforts of the entire people, will lead the country to economic prosperity.
Production function, how to achieve the best combination of factors, how to determine the effectiveness of a particular factor in the total amount of goods produced? For this purpose, a production function is used that reflects the quantitative relationship between the received volume of production and the applied production factors. it can be done like this:
Q - F (a), a2, a3, ... a).
where Q is the volume of production, a, a2, a3, ... an - factors of production.
Since the factors are interchangeable, the optimal ratio between them can be found both at the micro and at the macro level.
In the economic literature, the Douglas-Cobb production function is known, which reflects the dependence of the volume of production on a combination of two factors - capital and labor.
where Y is the volume of production; K is capital; L - work.
This is a static model. It does not reflect the changes taking place in the sphere of production over time, including technical progress, improvement of the organization of labor and production, qualitative changes in the use of labor force, entrepreneurial activity, etc.
The production function can be turned into a dynamic model and expressed by the formula
Y \u003d F (K, L, E, T),
where E - entrepreneurial ability; G-factor of time, taking into account technical progress.
In theory and practice, other models of the production function are also used.
Therefore, the significance of the production function lies in the fact that it makes it possible to determine the optimal combination of factors of production based on various combinations based on the interchangeability of factors and the possibility of their alternative use. economic labor capital entrepreneurship
So, the production of material goods is the basis of the life of human society. Production is carried out in human economic activity. Production activity involves the division of labor, which necessitates the exchange of activities and its results between the participants in the production process. Therefore, production is a social process. It uses the following factors: labor, land, capital, entrepreneurship, information, science. The nature of the combination of factors is direct and indirect. The direct nature of the combination of factors provides for private (public) ownership of the means of production, when the tools of labor are attributed to the direct producer. In the second case, when the means of production are separated from the direct producer, the combination of factors is mediated by the market mechanism.
The production of material goods and services is carried out in conditions of limited resources, which makes it possible to use them alternatively.
The constant reproduction of material goods is an indispensable condition for the existence of society. Before studying, engaging in science, politics, art, people must eat, have dwellings, dress, and for this they must constantly produce the necessary material goods. concept "mode of production" reflects the existence of material production in historically specific forms (primitive communal, slaveholding).
The mode of production of material wealth is the unity of its two sides; productive forces and production relations.
The elements of the productive forces are, first of all, People(active subject of labor) For production, people with the necessary knowledge and labor skills are always needed.
-Hence the first creative force is labor.
Work in material production, it is an expedient activity in which people, with the help of the means they have created, adapt natural objects to satisfy their needs.
-The second factor (material) is the means of labor. ( material things with the help of which people create goods). -Third factor (real) - objects of labor. (a thing or set of things that a person modifies with the help of means of labor.)
In order to set all factors in motion, it is necessary to find the right correlations between all the material elements of production and the number of workers. This problem is solved by technology that determines the methods of processing natural and other substances and obtaining finished products. In the 20th century, the limitations of production factors in comparison with the existing and growing level of needs are especially acutely recognized all over the world. The task arises: to use the production potential of society as efficiently as possible, i.e. achieve the greatest satisfaction of needs with the least and rational use of resources
Production relations are relations between people that develop in the process of production, distribution and exchange. Economic relations between people are diverse.
two types of these connections are distinguished: property relations (corresponding to them socio-economic relations between people) and organizational-economic relations. Property Relations- these are connections between large social groups, individual collectives and members of society for the appropriation of factors and results of production. The decisive position in the economy belonged in the past, and belongs now to those who get the enterprises and everything. what is made on them. A person, being the owner, receives a profit after the sale of production, while a hired worker receives only wages. Organizational and economic relations arise because social production, distribution, exchange and consumption are impossible without a certain organization. This organization is required for any joint activity of people. At the same time, organizational tasks are solved: 1) how to separate people to perform certain types of work and unite all those employed in the enterprise under a single command to achieve a common goal; 2) how to conduct economic activity; 3) who and how will manage the production activities of people. In this regard, organizational and economic relations are divided into three major types: 1) division of labor and production
2) organization of economic activity in certain forms. 3) economic management
The main types of economic relations are very different from each other. So, socio-economic relations are specific; they are characteristic of only one historical era or one social system (for example, primitive communal, slave-owning). Therefore, they have a historically passing character. Socio-economic relations change as a result of the transition from one specific form of ownership to another. In contrast, organizational and economic ties exist, as a rule, regardless of the socio-economic system. (in different social systems, the same forms of economic organization (factories, combines, service enterprises), as well as the general achievements of the scientific organization of labor and management, can be successfully applied.) It is only conditionally possible to consider the productive forces and production relations separately from each other. In reality, they exist as a whole. Man is the main figure and productive forces. and industrial relations. The connection between the parties to production is expressed by the law of correspondence of production relations. Considering this law, it is necessary to take into account the following: - productive forces and production relations act as a kind of content and form of the mode of production and can function in unity; - productive forces are the most mobile, revolutionary element and play a decisive role in changing production relations; - production relations have relative independence and activity, providing a certain scope for productive forces, creating incentives for the development of production, taking into account the interests of people; - the interaction of productive forces and production relations is contradictory. As a result of the continuous development of the productive forces, a discrepancy periodically arises between them and the elements of production relations, requiring their replacement. This process can be carried out either through reforms or through revolutionary changes.
