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Working conditions as an independent factor of production. Main Factors of Production

There are factors without which the concept of production would not make sense, and these are factors that affect the volume of production. Factors of production efficiency are quite diverse, since there are a great many resources for it. There are three main groups of factors: land, labor and capital. Water, forests, fields, minerals, etc., that is, something given by nature or created by man (for example, drained swamps) is land.

Labor as a factor of production is also a heterogeneous concept, in a complex meaning the cumulative efforts of people. Since there are a lot of professions and specialties, and each of them requires specific knowledge and skills, appropriate training is needed to obtain them. Training allows you to acquire this knowledge and improve existing skills. The population capable of working is called the labor force. For Russia, the labor force is made up of men (18-60 years old) and women (18-55 years old).

Labor as a factor of production is very important and relevant, since it means the participation of a person in the production process, the use of his own energy and potential. The main elements of labor include objects of labor, means and purposeful human activity. The main results of labor: economic benefits, human development (physiological and mental), human living conditions, accumulation of knowledge and experience.

Labor is not just an engine of progress, labor is the basis of human existence and life, because under its influence the brain and speech develop, experience is accumulated, and skills are improved.

Labor as a factor of production has content and character. According to the content, low-skilled, medium-skilled and highly skilled labor is distinguished.

Labor has both quantitative and qualitative characteristics. Qualitative characteristics are the level of qualification of employees, quantitative characteristics are costs (number of employees, intensity labor activity, work time). The more time it takes to educate and train a specialist, the more more qualified he possesses.

In order to determine the nature of labor, it is necessary to conduct a thorough analysis of the combination of labor force and means of production, to clarify who and in what quantities appropriates the results of labor. With this in mind, there are three main social species labor: free, hired and forced. Forced labor is forced labor (slave labor). Currently, there are the first two types of labor activity.

Free labor is voluntary. This is labor activity for oneself, when the owner and worker act in one person. A typical example of such activity: entrepreneur, farmer, etc. If labor activity is hired, then the employer and employee are different people, their relationship is formalized employment contract, sometimes by agreement or contract, and according to the results of labor, the employee receives a certain monetary reward.

For a long time there was a controversial question whether labor acts as a factor of production or whether it is work force. The physical, mental and intellectual abilities of a person are the labor force. If the employer is interested in the ability of a person to work, then the factor of production is the labor force. If the length of working time is important for him, then this factor is work. In order to work qualitatively, a person must have certain health, abilities and skills, hence it follows that the labor force exists before the start of the labor process.

INTRODUCTION 3

CHAPTER 1. MAIN FACTORS OF PRODUCTION. 4

Essence of factors of production 4

Labor as a factor of production. 4-5
Capital as a factor of production. 5-6
Land as a factor of production. 6-8
Entrepreneurship as a factor of production. 8-10

Substitutability and Complementarity of Factors

production. 11-13

Demand, supply and equilibrium in the labor market. 14-25

CHAPTER 2. LABOR RESOURCES AS THE BASIC

FACTOR OF PRODUCTION. 26

2.1. Employment of Russian students. 26-30

2.2. Efficiency of production development by example

JSC "Caustic" 30-34

CONCLUSION 35-36

REFERENCES 37

INTRODUCTION

Production is the process of converting one good into another: factors of production into finished goods.

The relevance of this topic lies in the fact that in order to start production, it is necessary to have at least one who will produce, and what will be produced from. Therefore, in a sense, we can talk about two factors of production - man and nature. However, such a definition would be too general. Usually in economic science there are four factors of production: labor, capital, land, entrepreneurship. At the same time, labor is understood as human activity aimed at achieving some useful result. Capital represents the entire accumulated stock of funds necessary for the production of material goods. Speaking of land, we mean not only land as such, but also water, air and all other benefits that nature provides for the use of man. Entrepreneurship is a special factor by which the above three factors of production are combined.

The purpose of the work is to study the market of production resources and study the labor market in more detail.

First, let us dwell in more detail on the consideration of factors of production as such, and then consider the problem of the interaction of these factors in the production process, demand, supply and equilibrium in the labor market.

CHAPTER 1. MAIN FACTORS OF PRODUCTION.

The essence of the factors of production.

Labor as a factor of production

Labor is the purposeful activity of man, with the help of which he transforms nature and adapts it to satisfy his needs.

All labor aims at producing some result, although some efforts are made for their own sake, as in games, for their own pleasure. Such efforts are not considered as work. In economic theory, labor as a factor of production refers to any mental and physical efforts made by people in the process of economic activity.

Speaking about labor, it is necessary to dwell on such concepts as labor productivity and labor intensity. The intensity of labor characterizes the intensity of labor, which is determined by the degree of expenditure of physical and mental energy per unit of time. The intensity of labor increases with the acceleration of the conveyor, an increase in the number of simultaneously serviced equipment, and a decrease in the loss of working time. Under conditions of complex automation and mechanization of production, the expenditure of the worker's physical energy is reduced, but the expenditure of mental and nervous energy is increased. A high level of labor intensity is equivalent to an increase in the working day. Labor productivity shows how much output is produced per unit of time. The progress of science and technology plays a decisive role in the growth of labor productivity. For example, the introduction of conveyors at the beginning of the 20th century led to a sharp increase in labor productivity. The conveyor organization of production was based on the principle of a fractional division of labor, in which the worker performs monotonous operations from one or two movements. However, at a certain stage it became clear that the division of labor operations is not unlimited, so in the fifties the conveyor was replaced by the use of machines with control devices. This again gave a sharp jump in labor productivity. Later, flexible production systems appeared.

The scientific and technological revolution has led to changes in the nature of work. Labor has become more skilled, the time spent on professional training of personnel has increased, physical labor is of less and less importance in the direct production process.

1.1.2. Capital as a factor of production

The next factor of production is capital. The term "capital" has many meanings: it can be interpreted both as a certain stock of material goods, and as something that includes not only material objects, but also non-material elements, such as human abilities, education. Defining capital as a factor of production, economists identify capital with the means of production. Capital consists of durable goods created for the production of other goods (machines, roads, computers, hammers, trucks, rolling mills, buildings, etc.).

Another aspect of the category of capital is related to its monetary form. Views on capital are diverse, but they all have one thing in common: capital is associated with the ability to generate income. Capital could be defined as investment resources used in the production of goods and services and their delivery to the consumer.

It is customary for economists to distinguish between capital materialized in buildings and structures, machines, equipment, functioning in the production process for several years, serving several production cycles. It is called fixed capital. Another type of capital, including raw materials, materials, energy resources, is completely spent in one production cycle, embodied in manufactured products. It is called working capital. The money spent on working capital is fully returned to the entrepreneur after the sale of products. Fixed capital costs cannot be recovered so quickly.

Land as a factor of production

The third factor of production is land. One of the important characteristics of land is its limited area. A person is not able to change its size at will, the earth cannot be "produced". The use of a certain piece of land represents the original condition of everything that a person can do.

It must be remembered that the term "land" is used in a broad sense of the word. It covers all resources that are given by nature in a certain amount and over the supply of which man has no power, whether it be the land itself, water resources or minerals.

Certain areas of the earth's surface contribute to some specific human production activity: for example, the seas and rivers are used for fishing; areas rich in minerals are necessary for the mining industry; some part of the land is used for construction (however, in this case, the choice is made not by nature, but by man). But, nevertheless, speaking of land, we first of all mean its use in agriculture.

The properties of the earth can be divided into data initially, i.e. natural and artificially created. A person can influence the fertility of the earth in a certain way, but such an impact is not unlimited. Sooner or later the time will come when the additional return to be received from the additional application of labor and capital to the land will be so reduced that it ceases to reward man for their application. We come to an important law concerning land, the law of diminishing returns (meaning returns in quantitative terms), or diminishing returns.

The law of diminishing returns can be formulated as follows: “Each increment of capital and labor invested in the cultivation of the land gives rise, in general, to a proportionally smaller increase in the amount of product obtained, unless the indicated increment coincides in time with the improvement of agricultural technology” (Marshall A.).

It is quite natural that on undercultivated land this tendency is imperceptible at first, it begins to act only after the maximum level of return has been reached. Diminishing returns can be halted for a time by improvements in agricultural technology. But if the demand for the products of the earth increases indefinitely, then the tendency to diminishing returns will become irresistible.

The law of diminishing returns applies to land only because, unlike other factors of production, it has one important property - limitedness. The land can be cultivated more intensively, but the area of cultivated land cannot be increased indefinitely, since the supply of land suitable for cultivation is unchanged.

Does the law of diminishing returns apply to other goods given by nature, grouped under the term "land"? Let's take a coal mine as an example. Indeed, over time, people face increasing challenges in trying to extract more minerals. Ceteris paribus, the continuous application of labor and capital to the mine will lead to a reduction in coal production. However, when we talk about the use of land in agriculture, the return in the form of agricultural products is a renewable income, and the coal mined in the mine is the extraction of accumulated treasures from it. After all, coal is part of the mine itself. Let's imagine that one person can pump water out of the tank in thirty days, but thirty people will do this work in a day, and when the tank is empty, no one and nothing will help to pump water out of it. Also, there is simply nothing to take from an empty mine. Therefore, the law of diminishing returns does not apply to mining.

Entrepreneurship as a factor of production

The phenomenon of entrepreneurship acts as an integral attribute of a market economy. Although the history of entrepreneurship goes back centuries, its modern understanding was formed during the formation and development of capitalism.

In economic theory, the concept of "entrepreneur" appeared in the XVIII century. and often associated with the concept of "owner". At its origins was the English economist R. Cantillon, who first introduced the term "entrepreneur" into economic theory. According to Cantillon, an entrepreneur is a person with uncertain, non-fixed income (a peasant, an artisan, a merchant, a robber, a beggar, etc.). He buys other people's goods at a known price, and sells his own at a price unknown to him. It follows that risk is the main distinguishing feature of the entrepreneur, and his main economic function is to bring supply into line with demand in various product markets.

A. Smith also characterized the entrepreneur as an owner who takes economic risks for the sake of implementing some commercial idea and making a profit. He himself plans and organizes production, disposes of its results.

I. Schumpeter calls an entrepreneur a person who undertakes the implementation of new combinations of factors of production and thereby ensures economic development. At the same time, Schumpeter believed that an entrepreneur is not necessarily the owner of production, an individual capitalist, it can also be the manager of a bank or a joint-stock company.

The association in one person of the owner and the entrepreneur began to collapse during the period when credit appeared. Any commercial Bank is not the owner of all the capital that he puts into circulation. As a rule, his property extends to the statutory fund, which may be a relatively small amount. There is no rigid connection between the entrepreneur and the owner, entrepreneurship is basically not a function of the owner alone, it can be attended by persons who are not directly subjects of ownership.

To characterize entrepreneurship as economic category the central problem is the establishment of its subjects and objects. Business entities can be, first of all, private individuals (organizers of sole, family, as well as larger production). The activities of such entrepreneurs are carried out both on the basis of their own labor and with the involvement of hired workers. Entrepreneurial activity can also be carried out by a group of persons linked by contractual relations and economic interests. The subjects of collective entrepreneurship are joint-stock companies, rental teams, cooperatives, etc. In individual cases business entities also include the state represented by its relevant bodies. Thus, in a market economy, there are three forms of entrepreneurial activity: state, collective, private, each of which finds its "niche" in the economic system.

The object of entrepreneurship is the implementation of the 1 most efficient combination of factors of production in order to maximize income. Entrepreneurs combine resources to produce a new good unknown to consumers; discovery of new production methods (technologies) and commercial use of existing goods; development of a new market; development of a new source of raw materials; carrying out reorganization in the industry to create their own monopoly or undermine someone else's.

For entrepreneurship, as a method of managing the economy, the main condition is the autonomy and independence of economic entities, the presence of a certain set of freedoms and rights. The independence of the entrepreneur should be understood in the sense that there is no governing body over him, indicating what to produce, how much to spend, to whom and at what price to sell, etc. But the entrepreneur is always dependent on the market, on the dynamics of supply and demand, on the price level, i.e., on the existing system of commodity-money relations.

The second condition for entrepreneurship is responsibility for the decisions made, their consequences and the risk associated with it. Risk is always associated with uncertainty and unpredictability. Even the most careful calculation and forecast cannot eliminate the unpredictability factor; it is a constant companion of entrepreneurial activity.

The third sign of entrepreneurship is the focus on achieving commercial success, the desire to increase profits.

Entrepreneurship as a special type of economic thinking is characterized by a set of original views and approaches to decision-making that are implemented in practice. The personality of the entrepreneur plays a central role here. Entrepreneurship is not an occupation, but a mindset and a property of nature. Being an entrepreneur means not doing what others do.

Substitutability and complementarity of factors of production.

The replacement of some factors of production by others is not absolute, since each factor does what the other cannot do. Therefore, one should speak not of interchangeability, but rather of complementarity of factors.

There is a marginal rate of technological substitution of factors of production. We will confine ourselves to considering the processes of industrialization of production, when the costs of manual labor are replaced by the work of machines and mechanisms. In this case, the marginal rate of technological substitution by physical capital, i.e. machines are the amount of labor that can be replaced by each unit of work of machines, without causing either an increase or a decrease in the volume of production. This combination of two factors of production can be represented by an isoquant. In Fig. 1, the abscissa axis shows the hours of operation of machines (physical capital K), and the ordinate axis shows the costs of manual labor. At each point of the isoquant, the marginal rate of technological substitution is equal to the slope of the tangent at this point, multiplied by minus one, because a decrease in labor costs requires an increase in the work of machines. In our case, it will be equal to - ΔL / ΔА

Fig.1. The combination of factors of production is an isoquant.

To explain at what combination of factors of production the smallest value can be achieved total costs, it is necessary to turn again to the concept of marginal product. To do this, it is necessary to compare the market price of each factor with the marginal product that is produced with its help. Let us suppose that a plot of land is leased and workers are hired to cultivate it. Since the price of land is higher than the price of labor, it makes sense to replace land costs with labor costs. This substitution continues until the marginal product obtained with a unit of land is equal to the amount by which the value of land exceeds the value of labor. If, for example, the value of one leased hectare of land is 20 times the value of labor, then the marginal product from that hectare must also be 20 times the marginal product obtained with a unit of labor. Only in this case can we talk about getting the maximum income for every ruble spent on land and labor, since in this case production costs will be the lowest. Based on these considerations, we can now formulate the general principle of the substitution of factors of production.

To achieve the lowest cost by replacing more expensive factors of production with less expensive ones, it is necessary to continue this process until the physical marginal products obtained with the help of these factors become proportional to the prices of the corresponding factors. As we saw above, it is in this case that the physical marginal product per ruble of one factor will be exactly equal to the marginal product per ruble of the other factor. From here it is easy to find the equilibrium condition in the process of replacing one factor with another:

(physical volume of marginal product A) / (price of factor A) == (physical volume of marginal B) / (price of factor B)

What are the advantages of the concept of "revenue from marginal product" over "physical volume of marginal product"?

Firstly, in practice they deal with monetary settlements and therefore are interested, first of all, in the income received from the sale of the physical marginal product, and not in this product itself.

Secondly, with the help of monetary comparison, it is much easier to judge the relationship between the value of the marginal product and the price of the corresponding factor of production with which this marginal or additional product is produced.

Thirdly, based on income from the marginal product, demand curves for a particular factor of production are built.

Naturally, without the concept of "marginal product" it would be impossible to define the concept of "income from marginal product". This is precisely where the intrinsic relationship between the physical marginal product and the income from it finds expression. Based on all of the above, we can calculate the income from the physical marginal product obtained with the help of the corresponding factor of production. It will be equal to the marginal revenue at a given volume of production, multiplied by the physical volume of the marginal product.

Thus, any factor of production will be used until the marginal product revenue is exactly equal to the market price of that factor. It is during this period that the enterprise will achieve maximum profit, and it is assumed that the other factors used in the production of this product, in terms of their income from marginal product, will be equal to the corresponding competitive market prices. It is obvious that if the price of a certain factor rises, then it will be used less in production and will gradually be replaced by other factors.

Demand, supply and equilibrium in the labor market.

Demand in the labor market

The subjects of demand in the labor market are business and the state, and the subjects of supply are households.

The amount of remuneration for labor can change in a competitive market in accordance with the laws of supply and demand.

The demand for labor is inversely related to wages. With an increase in wages, ceteris paribus, the entrepreneur, in order to maintain equilibrium, must correspondingly reduce the demand for labor, and with a decrease in wages, the demand for labor increases. The functional relationship between wages and labor demand is expressed in the labor demand curve (LD) shown in Fig. 2. Here on the abscissa is the amount of labor required (L), and on the ordinate is the value of real wages (W / P). (W is the nominal wage, P is the price level).

W/P

Rice. 2. The demand curve for labor as a reflection of the decreasing marginal return labor.

Each point on the demand curve for labor shows what demand will be at a certain wage. The configuration of the curve and its negative slope show that the lower the wage, the greater the demand for labor, and vice versa.

offer in the labor market.

The situation is different with the labor supply function. It also depends on the size of wages, but this dependence is direct: the higher the wage, the greater the supply of labor, and vice versa. Therefore, the labor supply curve (LS) has a positive slope (Fig. 3).

W/P

Rice. 3. The supply curve of labor as a reflection of the increasing costs of lost opportunities for the use of labor.

According to the American economist Paul Samuelson: “The total supply of labor in a society is determined by at least four indicators:

total population;

the share of the self-employed population in the total population;

the average number of hours worked by workers during the week and throughout the year;

quality, quantity and qualification of the labor that will be expended by the workers"

For most families, labor is the main source of income. For example, families headed by a non-elderly married couple receive, on average, 89% of their income from wages and salaries.

Consider the decisions of an individual who is the head of a household whose other members are not workers in a given period. Let his name be Fedor. Obviously, every day and every week, Fedor has a strictly defined amount of time at his disposal. He devotes part of it to work for hire, the rest of the time he spends on non-market activities: doing housework, raising children, resting. For simplicity, all non-market activities will be called leisure.

Fedor receives satisfaction (utility) both from leisure and from the consumption of all other goods (by himself and his family members). In order to acquire these other goods, he must earn their money equivalent, that is, income. To do this, he needs to work for hire and thereby sacrifice part of his leisure time. Fedor's task is to find such a combination of leisure and consumption of other goods in order to maximize his utility.

Fig.4. The budget constraint in the choice between leisure and consumption.

The budget constraint of this problem will be illustrated by means of Fig. 4. On the abscissa we will set aside the number of hours devoted to leisure, N, on the ordinate - the consumption of goods, C. Even if Fedor does not work at all, there is an upper limit on the duration of leisure - the total number of hours per day or week (24 hours and 168 hours, respectively). ). Let us denote this boundary as T. By definition, the time not spent on leisure is the time of employment. For example, the length of the segment ON A measures the total duration of leisure in a week, and the length of the segment N A T measures the time devoted to work.

Let Fedor's hourly wage be w. Being a price taker, he perceives it as given by the market. Fedor can devote all his time to leisure, this alternative reflects the point T on the horizontal axis: then the consumption of goods will naturally be equal to zero. The other extreme possibility is to devote all your time to work. Then Fedor will be able to purchase goods worth wT. This alternative is represented by point B on the vertical axis. If Fedor devotes NA hours per week to leisure, he will be able to consume other goods in the amount w(T - NA), which corresponds to point A. It is clear that Fedor's budget constraint is a straight line BT, and its slope (- w) characterizes the wage rate .

Note that the budget constraint in the problem of choosing between leisure and consumption (leisure and work) is similar to the budget constraint in the consumer problem. The slope of the budget line in this case also reflects the opportunity cost of one good in terms of another good. The alternative value of leisure is rejected consumption; therefore, the opportunity value of Fyodor's hour of leisure is equal to his wage rate! budget constraint

rewrite in the following form:

The left side of the equation reflects the consumer-worker's consumption and leisure costs, and the right side shows the value of the time at his disposal (English, time endowment).

Fig.5. Equilibrium combination of leisure and consumer

To determine which point on the line BT Fedor will choose, we need information about his preferences. A familiar way for economists to characterize a decision maker's preferences is a family of indifference curves, in this case without distinguishing between leisure and consumption. On fig. 5 such a map of Fyodor's indifference is superimposed on his budget constraint. If the solution is internal, then it is at the point of contact between the budget line and the indifference curve, e 1. Thus, Fedor chooses N 1 hours of leisure and C 1 units of consumption, from which it follows that he offers T - N 1 hours of his labor per week.

Let us assume that Fedor's wage rate has decreased from w 1 to w 2 . In order to increase his leisure time by one hour, he must now give up only w 2 and not w 1 . This situation is shown in Figure 6, a. Fedor's budget constraint is now represented by a flatter straight line B 2 , the slope of which is -w 2 . Due to the reduction in the wage rate, the original combination of consumption and leisure, e 1 , is no longer achievable. Fedor must choose some point on the budget line B 2 . With the indifference map shown in Fig. 6a, this point is e 2 . The reduction in wages lowered Fedor's supply of labor by N 2 - N 1 hours. Note that when the wage rate, w, is reduced, the budget line rotates counterclockwise around the point T.

Fig.6. The reaction of Fedor (a) and Tryphon (b) to the reduction in the wage rate.

A subject with a different indifference card would react to a pay cut, possibly differently. For example, in fig. 6, b shows the indifference map of Tryphon, whose budget constraints before and after the reduction in the wage rate are the same as those of Fedor. Let Tryfon work the same number of hours before the change in the wage rate as Fedor. However, after the reduction in wages, Tryfon, unlike Fedor, will work more, increasing the supply of labor by N 1 - N " 2 hours. This choice of Tryphon is explained by the peculiarities of his preferences regarding leisure and consumption.

A person may decide to work more, fewer, or the same number of hours per week in response to an exogenous reduction in the wage rate, depending on their preferences, which may be determined by family composition, cultural traditions, and finally, individual character traits. For example, a possible explanation for the difference in preferences between Fedor and Tryphon (Figure 6) could be that Fedor is a lonely person, while Tryphon has a large dependent family, or that he is simply a workaholic.

Fig.7. The substitution effect dominates the income effect.

We will greatly enrich the analysis if we decompose the effect on labor supply of a change in the wage rate into a substitution effect and an income effect. On fig. 7, Fedor's reaction to a change in his wage rate is reproduced once again. The substitution effect will be determined if, at the new wage rate, Fedor is provided with additional fixed income, which will allow him to just maintain the initial level of utility. To do this, we shift the budget line B 2 parallel to itself so that it becomes tangent to the original indifference curve U 1. We get the line B ’ 2 which touches the indifference curve at the point e C . Thus, the replacement effect is a transition from point e 2 to point e C . On the other hand, the income effect - the effect due solely to the reduction in income due to a change in the wage rate - is the transition from e C to e 2 .

Let us note that in Fig. 7, the substitution effect generated by a reduction in the wage rate increases the number of leisure hours from N 1 to N C , while the income effect reduces their number from N C to N 2 . As a result, Fedor's hours of work are reduced by N2 - N^, since the substitution effect exceeds the income effect.

Intuitively, when wages fall, the consumption of goods and services becomes more costly in the sense that the worker must sacrifice more leisure for each additional unit of consumption. Consequently, there is a tendency to replace consumption with leisure, i.e., to reduce the supply of labor with a decrease in wages. On the other hand, a reduction in the wage rate means that for the same number of hours of work the individual becomes poorer and this creates an income effect. Generally, the direction of the income effect depends on whether the good is normal or bad. It is commonly assumed ≈ and this is supported by statistical studies, ≈ that leisure is a normal good. Therefore, when wage falls, the demand for leisure, other things being equal, decreases.

So, in terms of the impact on labor supply, the substitution effect of lowering the wage rate is always negative (reduces labor supply), while the income effect is always positive (increases labor supply). However, their absolute values can be correlated differently. For Fyodor, the substitution effect exceeded the income effect, and he reduced his labor supply. For Tryphon, the income effect turned out to be absolute value more of a substitution effect, so he increased the supply of labor in response to lower wages. Consider what happens if the substitution effect and the income effect are equal in absolute size.

Equilibrium in the labor market

If you connect these two graphs - the demand curve (LD) and the supply curve (LS), then they will intersect at the point (E). This point on the graph

(Figure 4.) corresponds to a certain equilibrium level of wages (W / PE) and the supply of labor specified by this level (LE).

W/P

LD* LS** LE LD** LS*

Fig.8. Equilibrium in the labor market.

At point (E), the demand for labor is equal to the supply, i.e., the market is in equilibrium. This means that all entrepreneurs, who are ready to pay the equilibrium wage, find the necessary amount of labor on the market, and workers who are ready to offer their services for this wage are fully employed. This state of the market corresponds to the situation of full employment.

At any other wage other than (W/PE), the equilibrium in the market is disturbed, and two situations arise:

if the wage (W/PE*) is higher than the equilibrium one, then there is an excess supply of labor, which leads to unemployment;

if the wage (W/P**) is below the equilibrium, then the demand for workers exceeds the supply and there are unfilled jobs.

Both of these situations in the market conditions perfect competition cannot be sustainable, they are subject to correction by market mechanisms in the direction of restoring full employment.

Elasticity of demand for a resource - is the ratio of the percentage change in the consumption of a production resource to the percentage change in its price. Demand is more elastic for those factors that, other things being equal, have more low price. This allows for mutual substitution, forcing out expensive factors of production. High market prices cause a decrease in demand and its switch to alternative factors of production that have relatively low prices.

The factors of sustainable demand for resources are:

1) the efficiency (productivity) of a production resource when creating a product (for example, the more productive equipment is used in an enterprise, the fewer machines are needed to produce the planned amount of products);

2) market value(or price) of a good produced with a production resource; if the cost of a commodity increases, then it becomes profitable to increase the volume of its production, so the demand for resources will also increase.

There are two main types of markets for inputs:

the market of production resources in conditions of perfect competition - neither the seller nor the buyer can influence the prices of resources. A large number of sellers and buyers simultaneously operate in this market.

the market of production resources in conditions of imperfect competition - either the buyer or the seller can influence the prices of production resources.

A firm that has a monopoly on the finished product market can also control the price of the resource. Because it strives to produce less than its competitors, it always requires fewer resources. By buying up the bulk of the resources, it affects their price.

Industry demand for inputs is the sum of the demand for inputs from individual firms in an industry at each possible price for inputs. And the market demand for resources is the sum of all industry demands.

The demand for a factor of production depends on its marginal productivity. The marginal productivity of a factor is the increase in total output with an increase in this factor by one. Imagine a weaving factory where, according to technology, one weaver serves ten looms. However, you can try to increase the number of machines, leaving the same number of weavers. Of course, the growth of the machine park will lead to an increase in output, but the weaver will not be able to serve twelve machines as well as ten, and fifteen as well as twelve. Therefore, despite the overall increase in production, the increase in output from each subsequent machine will be less than from the previous one. The opposite situation can also be imagined: without increasing the number of looms, increase the number of weavers. Then each weaver will serve fewer machines, and she will do it better, although the productivity of the machines is limited, so the output per weaver will be reduced.

This example brings us to an important conclusion: at a certain level of knowledge and technology, an increase in the investment of one factor of production, with the number of other factors unchanged, leads to a decreasing productivity of this factor of production (Fig. 5).

Figure 9

The graph in fig. 9 illustrates the situation where one factor is variable (labor) and the other is constant (capital, in this case machines). Initially, the marginal (additional) product (MP) has a certain tendency to increase - after all, two or three weavers will serve the machines better than one weaver. But as the hiring of women workers increases (with the machine park unchanged), the marginal product will begin to decrease, since an increasing amount of the variable factor (labor) will be combined with an unchanged amount of capital. The hiring of female workers will continue up to a certain limit. This limit is the prevailing level of the market price of labor, i.e. wages. This level will tell the entrepreneur that it is necessary to stop hiring on that worker whose marginal product in monetary terms is exactly equal to wages 1 . In this case, this is the number of female workers in the amount of n people. The marginal product of the nth worker (shaded) corresponds to the wage (W). The marginal productivity of the nth worker is a measure of the contribution of labor (L) to the production of a product. The principle of competitive behavior applies here: an economic entity in a market economy must constantly compare its marginal revenues and marginal costs. marginal cost in this case, it is the wage paid by the entrepreneur, and marginal revenue is the marginal monetary product created by each additional unit of labor. Equilibrium occurs when MRP = W. In conditions of perfect competition, the wage paid by the firm to an employee is equal to the marginal cost of acquiring the resource (MRC). Therefore, the formula can be written as follows: MRP = MRC.

CHAPTER 2. EFFECTIVE USE OF LABOR RESOURCES AS THE MAIN FACTOR OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.

2.1. Employment of Russian students

Combining studies at a university with work is a widespread phenomenon among Russian students. Almost half of full-time university students work in Russia. The time spent on work, depending on the specialty, is presented in Table 1.

Table 1

Time spent on paid work of “local” students*

depending on the specialty 2

Speciality	Average time spent, hours per week	Number of observations
Social sciences (economics, law, management, sociology, etc.), except for pedagogy
Foreign language
Humanities (philosophy, Russian language, etc.)
Mathematics, programming, computer technology
Natural sciences (physics, chemistry, biology, etc.)
Technical science (construction, communications, production technology, etc.)
The medicine
Pedagogy
Culturologists, art (music, painting, theater, etc.), design, architecture

*That is, students studying in the same city or village where their parents live.

Employers in Russia pay significantly more attention to work experience than to indicators of the applicant's formal education. When interviewing employers, respondents were asked to rank on a scale of 0 to 5 the extent to which the various characteristics of the applicant's training documents are taken into account. Table 2 presents the average and standard deviations of the ranking of the main indicators.

		Standard deviation
Good reputation, fame of the educational institution that issued the diploma vocational education
A set of courses / disciplines indicated in the insert to the diploma
Grades indicated in the insert to the diploma

Labor is a process of conscious expedient activity of people aimed at creating the benefits they need. The process of labor is associated with the expenditure of human energy, muscles, and intellect. According to the nature of these costs, labor can be divided into physical and mental. Physical labor is characterized by the cost of mainly physical, and mental - mental energy.

Such costs are considered by economic theory as the expenditure of human labor power. Under labor force is understood as the ability of a person to work - physical and professional ability. This means that in order to work, one must have a certain minimum of health and professional skills. Professional skills assume that a person has the information necessary for this work and the ability to use it in the work process. Such information is needed, since labor is always specific - this is the work of a turner, seller, doctor, teacher - and it requires specific knowledge and skills necessary for the manufacture of some thing or the provision of a service, which, before the labor process, must exist in the worker's head in the form information image.

Labor power thus exists before the process of labor, which is a function of labor power, begins. Since the labor force contains potential labor, it can be considered as a labor resource, and the working population of the country with its entire set of labor forces as labor resources society.

On the scale of the whole society, labor resources are represented by that part of the country's population that is capable of working, i.e. has a labor force. This means that only part of the population represents the labor force.

In modern society, the main criteria for including people as labor force carriers in the labor force are age, health status and willingness to work. A person can be included in the labor force if he is of working age and in working condition. However, the specific content of the concepts of "working age" and "working status" in different countries may be different.

If we turn to the first concept, then it means the age of a person at which he can be the subject of labor as a factor of production. This age has lower and upper limits, different in different countries.

The lower limit in many countries depends on the content of work, the education system and labor legislation. If labor that does not require much knowledge prevails, then education can be reduced to the transfer of labor experience by parents to children, while if there is no ban on child labor, then working age may begin early. If the work of children is prohibited in the country, and complex labor prevails, then there is a need for compulsory secondary and vocational education, and the working age begins relatively late.

The upper limit of working age in modern conditions mainly depends on the legislation that determines the retirement age. In many countries it starts at age 65. Some countries have laws that require a retired person not to work. In other countries, such as Russia, pensioners are allowed to work, so that the working age of individuals is dependent on their able-bodied status. The able-bodied state is characterized by physical and mental capacity. On the one hand, this ability to act depends on the state of health, and on the other hand, on the requirements that production places on labor as its factor. It is obvious that the patient is incapacitated, but not every physically and mentally healthy person can be considered capable in those jobs that require special qualifications and put such a burden on the body that not everyone can withstand. That is why, when considering labor as a factor of production, it is necessary to refer to its qualitative and quantitative characteristics.

Qualitative characteristics of labor reflect the skill level of workers. According to this level, there is a general division of workers into skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled.

Skilled workers include workers whose training and preparation required considerable time, who have mastered a lot of information and are able to carry out labor operations that are complex, not only physically, but intellectually. This category includes professional workers classified as employees in Russia: teachers, doctors, lawyers, economists, workers government agencies who have undergone lengthy general and professional training and are carriers of significant information necessary for the implementation of complex work.

Semi-skilled workers include workers whose training did not require a long time and who, having a limited amount of information, are able to perform labor operations of medium complexity.

Unskilled workers are those who perform work that does not require special training. As a rule, training in the necessary labor operations and obtaining the information necessary for this occurs in the process of labor itself, like the labor of diggers.

The qualification of workers is reflected in the degree of complexity of their work. Unskilled labor is considered simple, and skilled labor is considered complex, as if raised to a power by simple labor, or simple labor multiplied by the appropriate coefficient of complexity.

It is possible to distinguish a qualified worker from an unskilled one, first of all, by their ability to substitute each other. A more qualified worker can replace an unskilled one at his job, but the opposite is impossible. For example, a design engineer can sell cigarettes, while a kiosk can't design a car. It is clear that the use of skilled workers in unskilled jobs means the irrational use of labor as a factor of production.

The progress of society is manifested in the increase in the share of skilled labor costs and the decrease in the share of unskilled labor. Moreover, along with the professional growth of a person, his general development also goes. The reverse process is indicative of economic and social regression.

Achieving and maintaining a certain skill level of the working population is an important component of the reproduction of the total labor force as a resource. It requires the presence in the country of pre-school education, vocational education and all those institutions of society that provide the production phase of the labor force. It is also important for society to distribute the labor force among those industries and enterprises that are in need of it.

The features of labor as a factor of production determine the close connection between the phase of labor exchange and the phase of its consumption, which manifests itself through the cooperation of labor, which is understood as the unification of labor forces in a single labor process. Without cooperation, such a process is impossible. For example, when loading manually. A 200-kilogram can only be lifted by four workers. : A complex assembly to the machine can only be made with joint work turners, millers, grinders and locksmiths.

In the phase of labor consumption, the quantitative characteristics of labor as a factor of production appear, since they represent labor costs. The dependence of production results on labor costs requires taking into account the factors influencing these costs.

Within the framework of the country, such freight costs primarily depend on the size of the employed working population. Unemployment of part of the working population in social production, the presence of unemployment in the country means a decrease in the value of labor as a factor of production. The cost of individual and total labor is affected by the length of the working day: and weeks; as well as holidays. The working day is the time of day during which the labor process takes place; The working week is determined by the number of working hours per week.

working day and work week characterize working time - the time during which the labor process takes place. Non-working days appear as weekends. They usually occur at the end of the week. Non-working days, usually established once a year with the preservation of average earnings, are considered holidays. Obviously, an increase in the duration of vacations leads to a reduction in labor costs,

The intensity of labor also affects the cost of labor. The intensity is understood as the intensity of labor, measured by the expenditure of human energy per unit of time. More intensive labor presupposes, other things being the same, greater expenditures of labour.

The considered factors are closely related to each other, the lack of one factor can be compensated for by another. From the point of view of social production, the underemployment of the working population can be compensated for by increased hours of work or by the intensity of work of workers. An increase in the intensity of labor can compensate for a reduction in the working day and vice versa.

A similar relationship exists between the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of labor as a factor of production. Thus, the labor of a semi-skilled worker can give the same result in the form of good and its utility as the work of a skilled worker, if it is longer or more intense. And this despite the fact that skilled labor gives a much greater result per unit of time at the same intensity than semi-skilled labor.

The ratio of the result of labor in the form of a product produced to its costs in the form of "human energy" characterizes its productivity. An increase in productivity allows for given labor costs per unit of time to produce more products. Labor productivity depends on a number of factors that can be divided into subjective and objective.

Subjective factors include everything that is directly related to a person as a subject of labor. First of all, it is his qualification. Skilled labor creates more benefits per unit of time than unskilled labor. Another such factor is the cooperation of labour, the possibilities of which in increasing the volume of production we have already spoken of. An important role in ensuring labor productivity is played by its organization. The organization of labor must exclude unproductive expenditures of the efforts of employees, ensure a responsible attitude to work; arouse interest among employees in the results of their work.

The objective factors of labor productivity include changes in the material factors of production - in land and capital, acting as objects of labor. For example, replacing a less fertile plot of land with a more fertile one allows you to increase the yield with the same labor costs. Equipping workers with machines leads to an increase in production volumes even with a reduction in labor costs. Here we can see that the action of objective factors leads to the fact that they replace labor as a factor of production. In this case, the same patterns are manifested as in the case of land replacement. The replacement of labor with capital can cause an increase in the return on each additionally involved unit of capital up to a certain point, after which the return begins to fall, i.e. comes into effect - diminishing returns on capital as a factor of production.

It should be noted that subjective and objective factors affect labor productivity in close interaction with each other. However, we can talk about the net productivity of a particular factor/production. The net productivity of a personal factor of production characterizes the productive power of labor, which exists along with the productive power of land or capital,

In general, productivity is determined simultaneously by several factors. So, if an enterprise replaces old equipment with new ones, then these changes may not ensure productivity growth, unless there are corresponding changes in the labor for servicing equipment. So productivity growth here is determined not only by capital, but also by labor.

Factors These are the main causes and conditions for the flow of production. The whole essence of production lies in the use of production factors and the creation with their help, on their basis, of an economic product. So this is the driving force of production, the components of the production potential.

In the simplest representation, the totality of production factors is reduced to the triad land, labor, capital, embodying the participation of natural and labor resources, means of production in the creation of a product economic activity. As the fourth factor, a number of authors of books on economics name entrepreneurship. But the expansion of the number of production factors from three to four does not exhaust their possible list. Let us dwell on the analysis of production factors in more detail.

natural factor reflects the influence of natural conditions on production processes, the use in production of natural sources of raw materials and energy, minerals, land and water resources, the air basin, natural flora and fauna. The natural environment as a factor of production embodies the possibility of involvement in production certain types and volumes of natural resources that are converted into raw materials from which the whole variety of tangible products of production is made. Nature, including not only the Earth, but also the Sun, represents the energy pantry of production, which, as you know, is not able to function without energy replenishment. The natural environment, the Earth is at the same time a production site on which and in which the means of production are located, workers work. Finally, nature is important for production as a factor not only of current, but also of future production.

With all the importance and significance of the natural factor in relation to production, it acts as a more passive factor than labor and capital. Natural resources, being mainly feedstock, undergo transformation into materials and further into the main means of production, acting as actually active, creative factors. Therefore, in a number of factor models, the natural factor as such often does not appear explicitly, which in no way diminishes its significance for production.

Labor factor represented in the production process by the labor of the workers employed in it. The combination of labor with other factors of production initiates manufacturing process as such. At the same time, the “labor” factor embodies the whole variety of types and forms of labor activity that directs production, accompanies it and represents it in the form of direct participation in the transformation of matter, energy, and information. So all the participants directly or indirectly involved in production contribute their labor to it, and both the course of production and its final result depend on this common labor.

Although labor itself is a factor of production, given the pronounced resource nature of economic factors of production, quite often, in the form of a production factor, not labor itself is considered as an expenditure of physical and mental energy of a person or working time, but labor resources, the number of people employed in production or able-bodied population. This approach is often used in macroeconomic factorial models. It is also important to know and understand that the labor factor production activities It manifests itself not only in the number of employees and labor costs, but to no lesser extent - in the quality and efficiency of their work, in labor returns. Real calculations take into account not only the labor expended, but also its productivity.

Factor "" represents the means of production involved in production and directly involved in it. The labor factor in the form of labor resources, labor power is involved in the production of only one side of its existence, the so-called living labor. At the same time, labor for a person is rather one of the conditions, and not a goal, purpose, a way of his existence. As for the means of production, they are created precisely for production, intended, and give themselves entirely to production. In this sense, capital as a factor of production is even higher than the labor factor.

Capital as a factor of production can act as different types, forms and measured in different ways. It has already been noted that production capital personifies and physical, and turning into it money capital. Physical capital is presented in the form of fixed capital (fixed capital), but it is legitimate to add working capital to it ( working capital), which also plays the role of a factor of production as the most important material resource and the source of production activity (some authors do not classify materials as capital and consider them as an independent factor). When considering long-term, future factors of production, capital investments, investments in production are often considered as such. This approach is legitimate, since in the long run, monetary and other investments in production turn into production factors.

The fourth factor of production reflects the impact entrepreneurial activity on the results of production activities. Entrepreneurial initiative has a favorable effect on the results of production activities. At the same time, it is quite difficult to quantify and measure the effect of this factor. The factor itself, called entrepreneurship or entrepreneurial activity, does not, unlike labor and capital, have generally accepted quantitative measures. For this reason alone, it is necessary to judge the impact of this factor on the volume or other results of production more qualitatively than quantitatively. Entrepreneurial initiative increases the return of the labor factor in production.

Let's name another significant production factor. It is collectively referred to as scientific and technical level of production. In its own way economic essence scientific and technical (technical and technological) level expresses the degree of technical and technological excellence of production. The following section of this chapter discusses this factor in more detail. High scientific technical level production leads to an increase in the return of the labor factor (labor productivity) and capital (fixed assets), i.e. manifested through other factors. At the same time, the scientific and technical level of production is also an independently acting factor. Contributing to the improvement of the technical level and quality of products, technical and technological progress allows to increase the demand for it, and this leads to an increase in prices and sales volume, the cost of the product being sold. So scientific, technical, technological progress, raising the technical level of production, will create another significant production factor in its face.

As mentioned above, as part of the factors, they can be distinguished as independent, considered separately from capital (fixed assets) materials used in production.

Production function and its factors

The theory of factors of production is based to a certain extent on the use of a mathematical, model apparatus, which are factor models in the form of a mathematical dependence that connects the magnitude of the resulting production result with the values of the production factors that determined this result. The most common type of such factorial models are the so-called. typical view such a function is dependence, a formula that relates the maximum output (output) Q with the factors on which this release depends. IN general view production function can be represented in the following entry:

Q = Q(L, K, M, T...),

where L,K, M, T... - factors of production: labor, capital, materials, technical level, etc.

Production functions can be used in macroeconomics, where they reflect the dependence of the total volume of production in monetary terms on the total, integral values of production factors calculated for the economy as a whole. At the same time, production functions are applicable to individual industries, types of production, and even to enterprise-wide production. If the production function is used in microeconomics, then it usually reflects the relationship between the volume of output (its maximum value) and the quantities used in the production of factors.

The Cobb-Douglas production function is widely known, representing a common economic model. This function has the form

Q = a L α K β ,

Q- the volume of output for a certain period, for example, annual output;
but- constant coefficient;
L- labor factor, volumetric indicator of the size of labor resources;
TO- the amount of capital used (the value of fixed assets or the volume of capital investments in production);
α,β are exponents satisfying the relation α + β= 1.

The given production function represents a two-factor model in which only labor variables and capital. Desired production volume Q can be obtained with various combinations of factors L And K, which is seen in Fig. 1, which shows curves that characterize combinations of values of variable factors that provide a given volume of output.

Rice. 1. Output volumes for different values of production factors

So, for example, to reach the volume of production Q =Q 0 possible with a combination of factors L1 And K1, L 2 And K 2 , L 3 And K 3, etc. If it is necessary to increase the output to the values (Q = Q 1 , or Q = Q 2 then for the given coefficient but and indicators α And β in the production function, it will be necessary to increase the values of the factors L And K and find other combinations of them, corresponding, for example, to the position of the point BUT on the curve Q=Q1, or points IN on the curve Q= Q 2 .

Curves, the points of which correspond to combinations of production factors that ensure the release of the same volume of output, are called. So in fig. 1 shows three isoquants.

Production functions are included in the arsenal of the economic and mathematical apparatus of micro- and macroeconomics, which is used mainly in theoretical studies, but they also have practical applications.

Labor is a process of conscious purposeful activity of people, aimed at creating the benefits they need.

The process of labor is associated with the expenditure of human energy, muscles, and intellect.

Such costs are considered economic theory as an expenditure of human labor power.

Under the labor force is understood the ability of a person to work - physical and professional ability. This means that in order to work, one must have certain health and professional knowledge and skills.

Labor power thus exists before the process of labor begins, which appears as a function of labor power. Since the labor force acts as labor in potential, it is considered as a labor resource.

On the scale of the whole society, labor resources are represented by that part of the country's population that is capable of work, that is, it has a labor force.

Labor as a factor of production has quantitative and qualitative characteristics.

Quantitative characteristics reflect labor costs determined by the number of employees, their working time and labor intensity, that is, the intensity of labor per unit of time.

Qualitative characteristics of labor reflect the skill level of workers. According to this level, there is a general division of workers into skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled.

Qualified workers include workers whose training and preparation required considerable time, who have mastered a lot of information and are able to carry out labor operations that are complex, not so much physically, but intellectually. This category primarily includes professional workers who are classified as employees in Russia: teachers, doctors, lawyers, economists, executives of state bodies who have undergone lengthy general and professional training and are carriers of significant information necessary to carry out complex work.

Semi-skilled workers include workers whose training did not require a long time and who, having a limited amount of information, are able to perform labor operations of medium complexity.

The considered characteristics of labor are closely related to each other, the shortcomings of some characteristics can be offset by the merits of others. For example, in terms of social production, part-time employment of the working population can be compensated by increased working hours or the intensity of work of workers. An increase in the intensity of labor compensates for a reduction in the working day and vice versa.

The ratio of the result of labor in the form of the number of products produced (P) to its costs per unit of time (Wt) characterizes labor productivity (Pt):

An increase in productivity allows for a given labor input per unit of time to produce more products. Labor productivity depends on a number of factors that can be divided into subjective and objective.

Subjective factors include everything that is directly related to a person as a subject of labor. First of all, it is his qualification. Skilled labor creates more benefits per unit of time than unskilled labor. Another factor is labor cooperation. An important role in ensuring labor productivity is played by its organization. The organization of labor must exclude unproductive expenditures of the efforts of employees, ensure a responsible attitude to work, and arouse the interest of employees in the results of their work.

The objective factors of labor productivity include changes in the material factors of production - land and capital, acting as objects of labor. For example, replacing a less fertile plot of land with a more fertile one allows you to increase the yield with the same labor costs. Equipping workers with machines leads to an increase in production volumes even with a reduction in labor costs. Here we can see that the action of objective factors leads to the fact that they replace labor as a factor of production. In this case, the same patterns are manifested as in the case of land replacement. The replacement of labor by capital can cause an increase in the return on each additional unit of capital involved up to a certain point, after which the return begins to fall, that is, the effect of diminishing returns on capital as a factor of production comes into play.

It should be noted that subjective and objective factors affect labor productivity in close interaction with each other. Although, we can talk about pure performance, determined only by subjective factors or only real ones. In the first case, one has to speak of the productive power of labor, and in the second, of the productive power of land or capital. But usually performance is determined simultaneously by several factors. So, if an enterprise replaces old equipment with a new one, then these changes may not provide productivity growth, if not

there will be corresponding changes in the work on maintenance of equipment. So productivity growth here is determined not only by capital, but also by labor.

The close relationship between labor and capital will be especially clearly seen in the subsequent consideration of capital as a factor of production.

Working conditions as an independent factor of production. Main Factors of Production

Labor as a factor of production

1.1.2. Capital as a factor of production

Land as a factor of production

Entrepreneurship as a factor of production

Production function and its factors

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