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Introduction
1. Production material wealth Fundamentals of the life of human society
2. Production and resources. The problem of limited resources
3. The main economic problems facing society
4. Ways and factors of increasing the efficiency of social production in the Republic of Belarus
Conclusion
List of sources used
Introduction
Of his higher development classical bourgeois political economy reached in the works of British scientists A. Smith and D. Ricardo, when Great Britain was the most economically advanced country. Britain possessed a relatively highly developed agriculture, a rapidly growing industry, and was active in foreign trade. Capitalist relations were greatly developed in it. Here the main classes of bourgeois society emerged: 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 eighteenth 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 "mode of production of material goods" was first introduced into the social function by Marx and Engels. Each method of production is based on a specific material and technical basis. The mode of production of mothers' goods is a certain type of human activity, a certain way of obtaining the means of living necessary to satisfy the mother. and spiritual needs. The mode of production of material goods is the dialectical unity of the productive forces and production relations.
Productive forces are those forces (w-k, means and objects of labor) with the help of which society affects nature and changes it. Means of labor (machines, machines) are a thing or a set 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, improving the tools of labor, the distribution of materials. benefits, wages.
Production relations are relations about ownership of the means of production, exchange of activities, distribution and consumption. The materiality of P.O. is expressed in the fact that they are formed in the process of production, exist independently of the consciousness of people, and are objective in nature.
Society is a certain set of interacting people with the goal of maintaining their lives, production and reproduction of the conditions of their existence. A single individual could not make up a social group, whatever it may be, he could not be a "society", and his consciousness - social, that is, he was not a person either. Society arises historically when there is 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 activities, To material sphere society.
Human labor includes several points, including the spiritual component - purposefulness. Activity, in fact, is characteristic of many representatives of the animal world, for example, beavers who build dams, birds create nests. But human labor activity differs from such "work" in that it is based not so much on instinct as on the realization of the goal, on the ideal. Human labor is inseparable from the historically beginning or from the further developing consciousness, 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 feature person.
The constructive and cultural understanding of labor does not in the least diminish the role of its economic interpretation. If we do not complete the characterization of labor on its cultural scale, but, on the contrary, start with it and go in our consideration deeply and into the ratio of types of labor, then we will eventually come to the conclusion that the first concept (or rather, the first approach) is the initial , the initial line of understanding of labor, and of society as a whole. Indeed, to write novels, create musical works, to manage people, etc., it is necessary that the 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 like rain, but is produced by people in their material production area. Scientists need many devices (microscope, encephalograph, etc., even paper or pencil, which they use and which they receive from material production activity. you cannot go to it; it is necessary to see the originality of different types of labor activity, which characterize the multidimensional nature of society, its material and spiritual culture.
Whatever concept of working people we adhere to (and we must nevertheless admit that from a philosophical point of view the second is more correct, which, by the way, includes, with certain reservations and restrictions, the first), the understanding of labor remains, in principle, 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 refers to the spiritual sphere of society). Here, the productive forces and production relations are traditionally distinguished.
Labor is the basis of material production, the basis of the productive forces of society. Paying tribute to tradition, it can be pointed out that the productive forces consist of: means of labor and people armed with certain knowledge and skills and activating these means of labor. Tools of labor include tools of labor, machines, machine complexes, computers, robots, etc. By themselves, of course, they cannot produce anything. The main productive force is people; but they do not in themselves 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 health care, science, education) and means of production. People are 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 textbooks on philosophy up to the 90s of the last century. However, such an idea, based on the Marxist tradition, turns out to be insufficiently complete. More and more often, technology (or technological process), production process control, including with the inclusion of computers, is added to the subsystems of the productive forces. This third subsystem is complemented by a fourth subsystem - the production and economic infrastructure. It includes parts, or elements, of the economic process that are subordinate, auxiliary in nature, ensuring the normal functioning specific 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, production and residential (belonging to a particular department) buildings, utilities that support production, etc. Knowledge (or science) should also be classified as productive forces. Already K. Marx noted that science is becoming (this refers to the 19th century) the productive force of society. He believed that scientific knowledge is "a 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, until the end of the 20th century, orthodox Marxists continued to declare, apparently fearing accusations of revisionism, that the productive forces consist of only two subsystems, and that science, allegedly in the XX century, continues only to “become” a productive force. Meanwhile, already from the beginning of the latest scientific and technological revolution, that is, from about the middle of the 20th century, a phenomenon of historical significance became obvious, which was the transformation of science into a direct productive force of society. D. Bell, for example, wrote in 1976 that the main features of post-industrial society include, first of all, "the central role of theoretical knowledge." He explained: “Every 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 innovations. its development for the last third of the century. "
Property occupies a key place in the system of industrial relations (sometimes it is interpreted as "property relations"). Economic property relations are legally formalized and secured by legal acts.
Property relations are of different types - ownership, 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 (for things, for people); it was, more correctly, a personal property within a tribe, community and having a name (taking into account the fact that people were forced to cooperate their means and efforts in hunting, fishing, agriculture) "communal", "tribal", "collectively 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 themselves or their relatives to die. Later (with the improvement of the means of labor, the division of labor actions, etc.), such a quantity of food and other goods 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 prisoners in clashes with another group of people, 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 it is necessary to treat them sparingly. In case of irrational use of resources, it is necessary to talk about the problem of their limitedness, because if you do not stop the waste of the resource, in the future, when it is needed, it simply will not be there. But, although the problem of limited resources has been clear for a long time, in different countries you 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 on the interest of legal entities in the efficient use of energy resources. At the same time, even by the example of the middle Urals, 25-30 million tons of standard fuel (tce) are consumed annually in the region, and about 9 million tf.e. are used irrationally. ... It turns out that it is mainly imported fuel and energy resources (FER) that are being spent irrationally. At the same time, about 3 million tons of fuel equivalent. can be reduced by organizational arrangements... Most energy saving plans pursue this very goal, but have not yet been able to achieve it.
Also an example of irrational use of minerals is 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 processing 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, thanks to the transition to integrated development of mineral deposits, the degree of non-production losses has significantly decreased, but it is still far from complete rationalization.
The government approved a program aimed at stopping land degradation, as a result of which the annual damage to the economy amounts to more than USD 200 million.
But so far the program is just being introduced into agriculture, and at present 56.4% of all agricultural lands are affected by degradation processes of varying degrees. According to scientists, the processes of soil degradation have intensified in recent decades as a result of irrational use of land resources, a decrease in the area of protective afforestation, destruction of anti-erosion hydraulic structures, natural disasters. The financing of the program for irrigation and drainage and erosion control works is envisaged to be carried out at the expense of extra-budgetary funds of the interested ministries and departments, Money from the sale and purchase of public land, 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 getting worse every day, but the implementation of the state program is more than problematic in conditions of financial deficit. The state will not be able to collect the necessary funds, and 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 government or sectoral programs. How long will it take before the program produces results? And how many land resources will I have time to fall into disrepair?
A fundamentally important property of biological resources is their ability to reproduce themselves. However, as a result of the constantly increasing anthropogenic impact on the environment and overexploitation, the raw potential of biological resources is decreasing, 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 ensure environmentally sound limits for their exploitation (withdrawal), which exclude depletion and loss of the ability of biological resources to reproduce themselves.
3. The main economic problems facing society
The main economic task is to choose the most effective variant of the distribution of production factors in order to solve the problem of limited opportunities, which is due to the unlimited needs of society and limited resources. An individual can provide himself with the necessary goods in various ways: to produce them on his own, exchange them for other goods, receive them as a gift. Society as a whole cannot get everything immediately. By virtue of this, it must decide what it would like to have immediately, what it can wait to receive, and what it can refuse altogether. Developed countries, for example, are making a lot of efforts to improve production of a limited range of goods in order to achieve some success in competitive struggle with other countries. These 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 on feeding and clothing the population of the country. In such countries, the standard of living 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, and the production of machinery and equipment. Such a restructuring of production will lower 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 put large numbers of people on the brink of poverty. Exists different options 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? By what organization of production? According to different projects, it is possible to build an industrial and residential building, according to different projects, it is possible to produce cars, use a plot of land. A building can be multi-story or one-story, a car can be assembled on a conveyor belt or by hand, a plot 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 government agency, in another - by private firms. The use of land 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, extract value? Should all members of society receive the same share, or should there be poor and rich, what should be the share of both? Should be given priority - intellect or physical strength? The solution to this problem determines the goals of society, the incentives for its development.
4. Ways and factors of increasing the efficiency of social production in the Republic of Belarus
The transition to market relations requires profound shifts in the economy - a crucial area human activity... It is necessary to make a sharp turn towards the intensification of production, to reorient every enterprise, organization, firm to the full and priority use of high-quality factors of economic growth. The transition to an economy of higher organization and efficiency with comprehensively developed productive forces and relations of production, and a well-oiled economic mechanism must be ensured. To a large extent the necessary conditions for this the market economy creates.
When substantiating and analyzing all indicators of economic efficiency, factors of increasing production efficiency in the main directions 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, improving the quality and competitiveness of products is achieved.
The most important factors in increasing production efficiency are:
Acceleration of scientific and technological progress, raising the technical level of production, manufactured and assimilated products (improving their quality), innovation policy;
Structural restructuring of the economy, its orientation towards the production of consumer goods, conversion of defense enterprises and industries, improvement of the reproduction structure of capital investments (priority of reconstruction and technical re-equipment of existing enterprises), 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 state regulation, cost accounting and work motivation system;
Strengthening social psychological factors, activation of the human factor based on democratization and decentralization of management, increased responsibility and creative initiative of employees, all-round personal development, strengthening of social orientation in the development of production (raising the general educational and professional level of workers, improving working conditions and safety measures, improving production culture, improving the environment) ...
Among all the factors of increasing efficiency and intensifying production intensification, a decisive place belongs to the denationalization and privatization of the economy, scientific and technological progress and the intensification of human activity, the strengthening of the personal factor (communication, cooperation, coordination, commitment), and an increase in 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 improve efficiency are divided into national (state), sectoral, territorial and intra-industrial. In the economic science of countries with developed market relations, these paths are divided into two groups: internal production and external or factors affecting the change in profits and controlled by the firm and uncontrollable factors to which the firm can only adjust. The second group of factors is specific market conditions, prices for products, raw materials, materials, energy, exchange rates, bank interest, the system of government orders, taxation, tax incentives, etc.
The most diverse group of intra-industrial factors on the scale of an enterprise, association, firm. Their number and content are specific for each enterprise, depending on its specialization, structure, time of operation, current and future tasks. They cannot be unified and the same for all enterprises.
The transition to a market economy introduces a number of significant adjustments to the theory and practice of assessing economic efficiency, selection and implementation optimal options production and economic solutions.
First, there is a significant increase in economic responsibility for the production and economic decisions made in comparison with the substantiation of the effectiveness of decisions made in the context of 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 efficiency of technical and organizational activities, compliance with the design and actual efficiency.
A completely different situation in a market economy, when the owner of funds bears full financial responsibility for the final financial results of production activities, i.e. material and financial responsibility is personalized. Under these conditions, the calculations and justification of economic efficiency are no longer formal, as was the case in a centrally controlled economy, when, as a rule, the design and actual efficiency of the decisions made did not coincide.
Secondly, the increased responsibility for the decisions made is closely related to an increase in the degree of risk in investment activities and production development, when market relations mainly act as the regulator of production, a whole system of insurance, independent expert examination of projects, and the use of the services of consulting firms are already needed.
Third, given the dynamism of production and investment, the importance of assessing the time factor in justifying and achieving financial results based on discounting (compound interest formula)
Fourthly, in contrast to the command-administrative system of management in the conditions of market relations and a variety of forms of ownership, instead of single, centrally approved economic norms and efficiency standards, individual standards are applied, which 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 decisions made (profit margins for enterprises, depreciation rates, consumption rates of raw materials and materials).
Thus, summing up all of the above, we will give all the main ways to increase efficiency in the form of a diagram:
The most important factor in increasing the efficiency of social production, ensuring its high efficiency has been and remains scientific and technological progress. Until recently, scientific and technological progress proceeded evolutionarily. The priority was given to the improvement of existing technologies, partial modernization of machinery and equipment. Such measures provided some, but insignificant, returns. There were insufficient incentives for the development and implementation of measures for new technology. In modern conditions of the formation of market relations, revolutionary, qualitative changes are needed, a transition to fundamentally new technologies, to the technique of subsequent generations - a radical re-equipment of all sectors of the national economy on the basis of the latest achievements of science and technology. The most important directions STP: wide assimilation of progressive technologies; production automation; creation of the use of new types of materials.
One of the important factors in the intensification and increase in production efficiency is the economy mode. Resource conservation must become a decisive source of meeting the growing demand for fuel, energy, raw materials and materials. In addressing all these issues important role belongs to the industry. It is necessary to create and equip the national economy with machines and equipment ensuring 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 non-waste technological processes. Therefore, the modernization of domestic machine building is so necessary - a decisive condition for accelerating scientific and technological progress, reconstruction of the entire national economy. We must not forget about the use of secondary resources.
In the Republic of Belarus, according to the intentions of the initiators of market transformations, the solution to the problem of raising the national economy should have occurred automatically, during the transition from the socialist, state form property to a capitalist, private form. It was assumed that the “collapse of the communist system” would lead to a rapid improvement in economic performance and an increase in 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 productive forces, a reduction in output, theft of state (national) 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 onto a liberal market track;
Secondly, this 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 clear enough here. On this score, there are many recommendations emanating from both international organizations and government experts and business circles. Everyone agrees that there are unshakable general patterns and principles of reform policy, neglect of which means only repeating other people's and own mistakes and that there is a so-called order of the world market, which forces all countries to bring their economies up to world standards.
There is also a consensus on the reform mechanism. It is based on a radical transformation of property relations - denationalization and privatization of state (republican and municipal) property, support for private entrepreneurship, the creation of a "real" ("responsible") owner-owner. If we talk about raising national production, bringing it to the world borders, then, despite the measures taken, frequent adjustments in the course of reforms, there are no noticeable shifts in this direction.
Countless recommendations of international financial and banking organizations in terms of property reform, as well as legislative acts Belarus on denationalization and privatization issues, with inevitable differences, has one thing in common common property: as a rule, their ultimate targets are the consolidation of the priority of privatization, the determination of the conditions and mechanisms for its implementation, the development of measures to support private entrepreneurship. As the analysis of such documents shows, the formal-administrative-legal side of the case prevails.
However, the main thing is not even this, but the fact that the reform of property relations, the restructuring of the economy are thought and carried out exclusively at the level of individual enterprises. Paradoxically, the adopted approach completely overlooks the aspect of increasing the efficiency of national production as a whole - on its state, national scale. The solution of this key problem is, as it were, postponed "for later", associated with an endless chain of bankruptcies, reorganizations, downsizing of industrial "giants", demonopolization and direct liquidation of enterprises.
Improving production efficiency 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 manufactured products.
One of the main goals of privatization in Russia (as well as in Belarus) was to increase the efficiency of enterprises. However, the studies carried out, as a rule, do not allow us to conclude that a turning point in efficiency has already come and that non-state sector enterprises are performing better than state ones.
However, it should be noted that the results were obtained by directly comparing the indicators of the economic activity of the enterprise in the two sectors and in this respect are rather rough. Although, according to them, it can be said 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 it can be noted that if they were the same for non-state enterprises, then their efficiency would be noticeably higher than that of state-owned enterprises.
To get more consumer goods in the future, people are forced to direct part of their current labor to create productive goods - physical capital. Investment represents resources spent on creating capital goods.
Capital goods wear out and become unusable in the process of their use. Investments can be directed both to the reproduction of worn-out 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 worn out capital goods is carried out at the expense of depreciation charges... The increase in the volume of capital goods is due to the cost of additional resources, called net investment.
Each time a net investment (capital investment) is made, the actual productive physical capital increases by the same value in current prices of net investment.
However, the value of all productive 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 is the basis of social production, for without the production of material conditions and means of life, the very vital activity of people is impossible. But in addition to material production, social production also includes spiritual production, production of consumption, production of people and production of the entire system of social relations, which together constitute the social "fabric" of society. They serve the production and reproduction of man as the pinnacle of 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, YURIST, 2000
3. Edited by D.D. Moskvin “Fundamentals of Economic Theory. Political Economy ", Editorial URSS, Moscow, 2001
4. Smith A. "Research on the nature and causes of the wealth of nations." M. 2005
5. S.V. Mocherny, V.N. Nekrasov, V.N. Ovchinnikov, V.V. V. V. secretaryuk
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: a reader", comp. E.F. Borisov, Moscow, High School, 2000
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Dialectical-materialistic philosophy proceeds from the fact that the method of material production is the basis of the entire diversity of history: it determines social, political and spiritual life, people's attitude to nature, is woven into a single human-ecological-economic system, expresses the logic of the development of social life. Material production appears in the concrete historical form of the mode of production, characterized by the unity of productive forces and production relations.
Productive forces express the active attitude of people towards nature. The productive power of society rests on natural power and includes it. The concept of "productive forces" was first introduced into the science of the classics of English political economy, characterizing production as a combination of labor and tools. In the dialectical-materialist understanding, the first productive force is a person who creates science and technology and applies them in the process of social production. Productive forces and social relations, according to Karl Marx, are different aspects of the development of the social individual. Productive forces are a system of a material factor - means of production (means of labor and objects of labor) - and a personal factor of production (possessing physical strength, labor skills, production experience, intellect and moral-volitional qualities), in the process of which the exchange of substances is carried out between nature and society. Material production is impossible without information processing.
A person, not satisfied with the spontaneous formation of substances, breaks through the horizon of nature that is narrow for him and organizes a technological process that allows him to add artificial ones to the natural properties of substances, making natural material socially useful. Before being formed as a productive force, a person must become a person, go through a school of training and education. Therefore, the work of a teacher, doctor, artist, journalist, actor, any activity (not only direct material production) that forms a personality should be considered as an indirect productive force. The term "material production" means, first of all, the processing of matter and the production of material goods (people process matter, not produce). Relations of production characterize the way of connecting the means of production with the worker and include relations: a) property; b) distributions; c) exchange (natural or commodity-money); d) consumption.
The development of productive forces is an evolutionary-revolutionary process that fits into civilizational and formational dynamics. The first revolution in the productive forces took place when they began to produce not only instruments of labor, but also means of subsistence. This was in the era of the appearance of polished stone tools (Neolithic, or agrarian, revolution). When man invented throwing weapons, he consumed mammoths and large ungulates for consumption for several millennia. As a result, ecological crisis... On the basis of the Neolithic Revolution, mankind overcame this crisis. The whole history of the biosphere took a new course: man began to create an artificial circulation of substances. The transition to a manufacturing economy was due to the depletion of natural resources in human habitats and an increase in population. (The latter is a cause and at the same time a consequence of the transition to a productive economy.) On the basis of the division of labor and the growth of its productivity, a surplus product arose. Thus, the material prerequisites were created for systematic exchange, the development of trade, and the concentration of the surplus product in the hands of a part of society. The old orientation towards collective labor and equality in distribution has become obsolete. Individual activity and private property were introduced into the collective principles. Society has changed qualitatively - it has become complexly structured, needs have grown and become more complex, the scale of values has changed, and the load on the biosphere has increased. The result of changes in economic conditions and social relations was the formation of an exploitative class society.
Through exploitation, labor has become more intense. A material base has emerged for the liberation of a part of society from labor in material production. There was a separation of mental labor from physical labor, which created the necessary basis for the progress of spiritual life. Another type of social division of labor was the separation of handicrafts from agriculture, the city from the countryside. The cities became centers of crafts, trade, political and spiritual life.
Revolutions in the productive forces are associated with significant changes in technology. Technique is an artificial formation created by man; instrument, i.e. a means, a tool for satisfying human needs; an independent reality opposed to nature and man; a specific way of using the forces and energy of nature; a phenomenon that is inseparable from technology. Technique has evolved from domestic, or tool (instrumental), to machine and automatic.
The third revolution in productive forces, scientific and technological revolution, which began in the 40-50s of the XX century, marks the transition from machine production to automated production. A control device is added to the previous three links of the machine. The development of such production is associated with the improvement of computers, with the advent of robotics, flexible automated systems. In addition to material and energy intensity, the importance of the science intensity of production is increasing. A qualitative transformation of the productive forces on the basis of the transition to automated production, the transformation of scientific and technical activity into a determining link in material production constitutes the production and technical aspect of the essence of scientific and technological revolution. But this is not enough: it is also important to take into account the socio - economic and ideological aspects of the essence of scientific and technological revolution.
The socio-economic aspect of scientific and technological revolution is expressed in the humanization of production. Technical means in complexity they approach the properties and nature of a person, taking into account his physical, mental and psychological capabilities. If this is not the case, then there is an alienation of man from the machine. It is possible not only for social reasons, but also when the logic of the development of technology is not based on the logic of human development. In this case, the anthropomorphic principle does not work and the integrity of labor is not ensured. A revolution in science and technology must be coupled with a cultural one that changes a person. A qualitatively new type of continuously learning and improving worker is being formed.
By creating conditions for the technological freedom of man, his self-expression, the scientific and technological revolution acts as the greatest blessing. At the same time, scientific and technological revolution is a great danger to a person with an inept, illiterate organization of technological processes.
Changes in productive forces are accompanied by corresponding processes in production relations. This is carried out both by the gradual transformation of one form of ownership into another (for example, the abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861), and by revolutionary breaking up of outdated production relations and replacing them with fundamentally new ones (example: bourgeois French revolution 1789-1794 eliminated the dominance of feudal property and established bourgeois property). The opposite active influence of production relations on the productive forces is also manifested. Commodity-money relations cut off useless and low-quality (based on results) labor.
The market, of course, is not a panacea for all ills. The market is a means, but not an end. It can be effective: a) if it is consistent with scientific and technological transformations; b) when creating equal conditions for the development of various social types farms and forms of ownership; c) in the presence of massive social forces interested in introducing a new economic mechanism; d) if there are qualified personnel capable of skillfully acting in civilized market conditions of management, i.e. when synchronizing economic and cultural-technical revolutions; e) with the appropriate infrastructure of commodity and stock exchanges, information and commercial centers, etc .; f) in the presence of sufficient economic conditions and legal regulators (demonopolization, denationalization of forms of ownership, introduction of anti-inflationary mechanisms, methods of social protection of the population, etc.); g) with the consistency and synchronicity of the implementation of market events.
On the basis of market development, market economic thinking is formed, which is characterized by such features as initiative, pragmatism, dynamism, adaptability, individualism. Strengthening the social orientation of the market in a post-industrial society generates in economic thinking guidelines for social protection of the population, the performance by the state of important management functions in the market, which does not exclude reliance on initiative and flexibility.
In addition to market, humanity has other ways to resolve its social problems, for example, the creation of new industries, targeted, selective, priority and planned development of those socio-economic structures that can provide a significant effect and gain in time. The initial chaotic basis inherent in the launch of market mechanisms is not a guarantee of access to the structures of self-organization of the social environment. The development of natural economic processes does not negate the role of order, economic discipline and organization. The market system of relations presupposes the openness of the economy, its organic entry into the system of world economic relations. In the course of the implementation of scientific and technological revolution, the economy is internationalized and at the same time production is individualized, decentralized, which makes it possible to respond more flexibly and faster to the changing needs of the population and introduce innovations.
The worldview aspect of scientific and technological revolution reveals the problem overall strategy man's relationship to the world. The position of a temporary man and an opportunist, preoccupied with momentary profit, is replaced by a prudent economic attitude towards material, natural and labor resources, to the environment and human activity. The task is not only to preserve, but also to improve and humanize the environment, to take into account the long-term and large-scale consequences of the use of science and technology. At one time, great geographical discoveries expanded the horizon of man's vision of the world. Modern space exploration, penetration into the secrets of the depths of matter, the possibility of rapid movement in space, the internationalization of communications, science and technology, the "standards" of the market and democracy, the widespread informatization of society make a person's style of thinking even more ambitious, universal and at the same time professionally deepened. The role of not only special professional knowledge, but also general culture, philosophical training, knowledge foreign languages... The need to take into account the consequences of scientific and technological revolution globally, from the standpoint of environmental criteria and "human" dimensions, makes thinking modern man global, environmental and humanistic.
So, in the course of scientific and technological revolution, the factors of scientific and technological progress and socio-political laws are combined, and the scope for the universal flourishing of the individual opens up. In general, the modern progress of society is feasible on the basis of achieving harmony of scientific and technological restructuring, cultural and technical preparedness of personnel, flexible economic methods economic management and socially and environmentally oriented science, technology, people and the market.
The movement from the Neolithic to the industrial and scientific and technological revolution, from the traditional to the industrial, post-industrial and information-ecological society to a greater extent characterizes the dynamics of peoples - the leaders of the historical process. This is the vector that the entire population of the Earth is equal to.
In economic theory, the concept of "material good" is poorly developed. It is believed to be unambiguous. In addition, there is an approximate list of benefits, so scientists think little about this. At the same time, the phenomenon has a number of features that are worth dwelling on.
The concept of good
Even the ancient Greek philosophers began to think about what is good for man. It has always been perceived as something positive for the individual, bringing him pleasure and comfort. But there was no consensus for a long time that this could be. For Socrates, it was the ability to think, the mind of a person. An individual can reason and form correct opinions - this is his main goal, value, purpose.
Plato believed that goodness is something between rationality and pleasure. In his opinion, the concept cannot be reduced to either one or the other. Good is something mixed, elusive. Aristotle comes to the conclusion that there is no one good for everyone. He closely links the concept with morality, arguing that only the correspondence of pleasure with ethical principles can be a blessing. That's why the main role in the creation of benefits for a person he assigned to the state. From here came two traditions of considering them a model of virtue or a source of pleasure.
Indian philosophy identified four main benefits for man: pleasure, virtue, benefit and liberation from suffering. Moreover, its component is the presence of a certain benefit from a thing or event. Later, material good began to be correlated and even identified with the concept of God. And only the emergence of economic theories translates thinking about the good into a practical area. Beneath them in the very broad sense something is understood that satisfies the requirements and meets the interests of a person.
Properties of goods
In order for a material good to become such, it must answer certain conditions and have the following properties:
- the good must be objective, that is, fixed in some kind of material medium;
- it is universal, as it has significance for many or all people;
- the good must have a social meaning;
- it is abstract and intelligible, since it reflects in the consciousness of a person and society a certain concrete form, as a result of production and social relations.
At the same time, benefits have the main property - this is utility. That is, they should bring real benefits to people. This is where their value lies.
The good and the needs of man
In order for the good to be recognized as such, several conditions must be met:
- it must meet the needs of the person;
- the good must have objective properties and characteristics that allow it to be useful, that is, to be able to improve the life of society;
- a person must understand that the good can satisfy his certain requirements and needs;
- a person can dispose of good at his own discretion, that is, choose the time and method of satisfying the need.
To understand the essence of goods, you need to remember what needs are. They are understood as internal incentives that are implemented in activities. Need begins with an awareness of need, which is associated with a feeling of lack of something. She creates discomfort varying degrees intensity, unpleasant sensation lack of anything. It makes you take any action, look for a way to satisfy the need.
A person is simultaneously attacked by several needs and he ranks them, choosing to satisfy at first the actual ones. Traditionally, biological or organic needs are distinguished: for food, sleep, reproduction. There are also social needs: the need to belong to a group, the desire for respect, interaction with other people, the achievement of a certain status. As far as spiritual needs are concerned, these requirements are of the highest order. These include the cognitive need, the need for self-affirmation and self-realization, the search for the meaning of existence.
A person is constantly busy meeting his needs. This process leads to the desired state of pleasure, gives in the final stage positive feelings, to which any individual aspires. The process of the emergence and satisfaction of needs is called motivation, since it forces a person to carry out activities. He always has a choice of how best to achieve the desired result and he independently selects best ways removing the deficit state. To satisfy the needs, the individual uses various objects and it is they that can be called good, since they lead a person to a pleasant feeling of satisfaction and are part of a large economic and social activity.
Economic theory of goods
The science of economics could not ignore such a question of the good. Since the material needs of a person are satisfied with the help of objects produced on the basis of resources, a theory of economic benefits arises. They are understood as objects and their properties that can meet the requirements and desires of a person. The peculiarity of the process of satisfying material needs is such that the needs of people always exceed production capabilities. Therefore, the benefits are always less than the needs for them. Thus, economic resources always have a special property - a rarity. There are always fewer of them on the market than necessary. This creates an increased demand for economic goods and allows them to be priced.
For their production, resources are always needed, and they, in turn, are limited. In addition, material goods have one more property - utility. They are always associated with benefits. There is a concept of marginal utility, that is, the possibility of good to satisfy the need most fully. At the same time, as consumption progresses, a decrease in the marginal demand is observed. So, a hungry person satisfies the need for food with the first 100 grams of food, but he continues to eat, while the benefit decreases. The positive characteristics of various goods may be similar. A person chooses what is necessary from them, focusing not only on this indicator, but also on other factors: price, psychological and aesthetic satisfaction, etc.
Classification of goods
Diverse consumption of material goods leads to the fact that in economic theory there are several ways to divide them into types. First of all, they are classified according to the degree of limitation. There are goods for the production of which resources are expended and they are finite. They are called economic or material. There are also goods that are available in unlimited quantities, such as sunlight or air. They are called non-economic or gratuitous.
Depending on the way of consumption, goods are divided into consumer and production. The former are designed to meet the needs of the end user. The latter are necessary for the production of consumer goods (for example, machines, technology, land). Also, material and non-material, private and public goods are highlighted.
Material and intangible benefits
Various human needs require specific means to satisfy them. In this regard, there are material and non-material benefits. The first includes objects comprehended by the senses. A material benefit is everything that can be touched, sniffed, examined. They can usually accumulate and be used for a long time. Allocate material benefits of one-time, current and long-term use.
The second category is intangible goods. They are usually associated with services. Intangible benefits are created in the non-productive sphere and affect the state and abilities of a person. These include healthcare, education, trade, service, etc.
Public and private
Depending on the way of consumption, material goods can be characterized as private or public. The first kind is consumed by one person who paid for it and owns it. These are means of individual demand: cars, clothing, food. The public good is indivisible, it belongs to a large group of people who collectively pay for it. This type includes environmental protection, cleanliness and order on the roads and in in public places, the protection of law and order and the country's defense.
Production and distribution of wealth
The creation of wealth is a complex, costly process. Its organization requires the efforts and resources of many people. In fact, the entire sphere of the economy is engaged in the production of material goods. different kind... Depending on the dominant needs, the sphere can be independently regulated by producing the necessary goods. The process of distributing wealth is not so simple. At the same time, the market is an instrument, however, there is also a social sphere. It is in it that the state assumes distribution functions in order to reduce social tension.
Service as a blessing
Despite the fact that material goods are commonly understood as a means of satisfying a need, services are also a means of eliminating need. Economic theory today actively uses this concept. According to her, material services are a kind of economic good. Their peculiarity lies in the fact that the service is intangible, it is impossible to accumulate or evaluate it before it is received. At the same time, it also possesses usefulness and rarity, like other economic benefits.
Production- This is an expedient activity of people aimed at meeting their needs. In this process, the main factors of production: labor, land, capital, entrepreneurship. The result of production is the creation of material and intangible benefits, which in turn constitutes the wealth of society.
National wealth- the aggregate of material goods that society has at a certain date and which are created by labor for the entire previous period of its development.
National wealth in the broad sense of the word represents everything that a nation possesses in one way or another. National wealth includes not only material goods, but all Natural resources, climate, artwork and more. But all this is very difficult to calculate due to a number of objective reasons. Therefore, in the practice of economic analysis, the indicator of national wealth is used in the narrow sense of the word - this is everything that is somehow mediated by human labor and can be reproduced. In other words, the national wealth of a country is a set of material and cultural benefits accumulated by a given country during its history at a given point in time. This is the result of the work of many generations of people.
According to its structure, national wealth consists of the following basic elements. The first and most important element of national wealth should be considered basic production assets and circulating - objects of labor. The national wealth also includes material reserves and reserves. This includes finished products in the sphere of circulation, inventories at enterprises and in the trade network, state reserves and insurance funds.
4. Technological choice in the economy. Production Capability Curve.
The number of resources and production capabilities is always limited, therefore, in the production of goods, one has to make a technological choice - which goods to produce, and in what quantities.
Production opportunities are the capabilities of society to produce economic benefits using all available resources and at a given level of development.
The production capability curve reflects, at each point, the maximum production of two products with different combinations that allow full use of resources. Moving from one alternative to another, the economy switches its resources from one commodity to another.
The production capability curve shows:
1. Trends in the growth of opportunity costs of production in conditions of increased production of one of the goods.
2. The level of production efficiency.
The curve shows all possible combinations of two goods that can be produced simultaneously within a certain period of time, all other things being equal. For the economy, when the quantity of one product produced increases, the production of another product must be sacrificed.
5. Alternative cost(sometimeseconomic value) - the best value missed as a result of choosing a specific alternative. Also has names - opportunity costs, hidden costs, external costs. Underproduction can be defined as the amount of another product that has to be sacrificed (to reduce its production) to increase the production of a given product.
The opportunity cost can be expressed both in kind (in goods, the production or consumption of which had to be abandoned), and in the monetary equivalent of these alternatives. The opportunity cost can also be expressed in hours of time (lost time in terms of its alternative use).
7. Distinguish between non-economic and economic benefits. The former are not the subject of people's production activities, they are not exchanged for other goods. These goods, as a rule, are available in quantities that exceed the need for them. These, for example, include air, in some cases - water, although without them a person cannot exist at all. Goods, the amount of which is limited in comparison with the need for them, are called economic. The value of a commodity is a special case of the manifestation of economic value in certain, historically specific conditions. Economic value is the unity of the economic usefulness of a good and the economic costs of its production. Only limited goods have value. Therefore, the rarity (limitedness) of the good is an element of value. Economic costs and economic utility in unity, forming value, implement the principle of self-regulation inherent in economic activity.
8. According tomarginal utility theory , the value of goods is determined by their marginal utility based on subjective assessments of human needs. The marginal utility of any good denotes the benefit that the last unit of this good brings, and the last good must satisfy the most unimportant needs. In this case, the rarity of the goods is declared a cost factor. Subjective value is a personal assessment of a product by a consumer and a seller; the objective value is exchange proportions, prices that are formed in the course of competition in the market. With the gradual saturation of the needs of the subject, the usefulness of the thing decreases. The theory of marginal utility tries to advise on how best to allocate funds to meet needs when resources are limited.
The subjective assessment of utility depends on two factors: on the available stock of this good and on the degree of saturation of the need for it. As the demand is satisfied, the "degree of saturation" increases, and the value of competitive utility decreases. The producer needs one thing, the consumer needs another. The producer is driven by the "invisible hand" of A. Smith: by entering into social production, he pursues only his own personal benefit. But he will receive this benefit only if there is a buyer for the products of his labor. The value of the good is twofold: the producer measures it by the cost of production, the consumer - by the degree of utility. The two principles of the value of good are not opposed to each other.
The production process offers, according to 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 one's 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, except for the one that does not achieve the set 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.
Labor force is an active and dynamic factor of production. The most perfect system of machines, liquid land resources remain potential factors until they are used by humans. The miracles that modern means of long-distance communication make, computer systems with the help of which people solve unique scientific fundamental and applied problems, the use of personal computers for household purposes - all this is a consequence of programs developed by a person and embedded in modern cars... 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 means of creating material goods and services.
At the same time, labor power is a factor of production, it is effective only in combination with material factors - objects and means of labor. The subject of labor is, first of all, the substance of nature, to which human labor is directed. Land occupies a special place here. The earth is the main means of production in agriculture, a storehouse 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, that which a person uses on the objects of labor. The main place among the means of labor is occupied by instruments of labor - modern machine tools, machinery, equipment and their systems. Material factors are usually called means of production, and together with labor force- the productive forces of society. The vital activity of people always, and especially in modern conditions, occurs in the process of division of labor and its cooperation. Without close human interaction different professions within the framework of the national economy, without international economic integration, it deepens more and more, 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 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 reason, 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 common human problems - preserving the human environment, providing people with food, energy, raw materials, rational development of the resources of the earth, the World Ocean, and space.
The nature of the combination of material and personal factors in various economic systems has its own characteristics. The decisive role is played by the ownership of the means of production. 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 two options are possible - violence and interest. Violence inherent in the era of slavery and totalitarian regimes, and interest is a contractual or market system. In the market system, labor power, means of production are transformed into an object of purchase and sale, that is, into capital.
In economic theory, the category "capital" occupies a special place, therefore, discussions about its nature have not stopped for more than one century. Marxism viewed capital from a class position 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-production relations between the capitalist class and wage labor. Substantial factors of production, like labor, only under conditions of capitalist property are converted into capital, since they express the relations of exploitation and oppression in an antagonistic class society. The nature of the combination of these factors here is economic coercion, which only outwardly resembles the relationship of equal commodity owners.
Other economic schools view the essence of capital differently. More often, capital is considered an ahistorical category. David Ricardo called capital the tools of the primitive hunter. 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 attributed to capital all "the accumulated stock of means for the production of material goods and for the achievement of those benefits that are usually considered part of income." He argued that "a significant part of the capital is knowledge and organization, with one part privately owned and the other not." It is unnecessary to cite here the views of other economists - John Clarke, 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 acquiring exceptional relevance right now in the context of the increasing role of intellectual labor in modern production. This concept is a development of Alfred Marshall's idea of 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, investment in education, science, culture is 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 tendency, unfortunately, has affected quite noticeably, dooms Ukraine to degradation and stagnation.
Meanwhile, in a post-industrial society, intelligence, knowledge, information, giving rise to new production and social technologies, take 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, transferring, storing and using information, the development of global communications through the "Internet" system, new information Technology(even yesterday they seemed fantastic, but in modern conditions the reality of post-industrial countries) - all these factors have become a powerful catalyst for the progress of society.
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 responsibility.
An entrepreneur is a person who has unique abilities and qualities that are realized in economic activities. An entrepreneur is a leader, organizer, innovator. This is a person who generates new ideas, is focused on innovation, is able to define and formulate a goal, unite the team, and direct it towards solving the assigned tasks. Will and perseverance are inherent features of a true entrepreneur, responsibility for decision- his important quality... He is characterized by the ability to take risks, the desire to provide profit to the firm, he is similar to those who are called businessmen. However, an entrepreneur is a market phenomenon of the highest quality level. The renowned economist and sociologist Jozsef Schumpeter believed that profit for an entrepreneur is just a symbol of success. The main thing for him is to embark on an unknown path, where the usual order ends.
Entrepreneurship is a vital core, a “state of mind”, a vocation inherent only to a select few. The production process is effective if the interaction of all factors is organized, complement and replace each other in certain combinations. An entrepreneur not only combines factors of production, but also finds an effective combination of them, while relying on "human capital" - a resource of unique quality. A leader who is not able to create a team, to inspire people with incentives, not necessarily only material ones, will never succeed. Ukraine still has to find entrepreneurs, whose talent and will, multiplied by the efforts of the entire people, will lead the country to economic prosperity.
The production function, how to achieve the best combination of factors, how to determine the effectiveness of this or that factor in the total volume of goods produced? For this purpose, a production function is used, which 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 are factors of production.
Since the factors are interchangeable, then both at the micro and at the macro level, you can find the optimal ratio between them.
In the economic literature, the Douglas-Cobb production function is known, reflecting the dependence of the volume of production on a combination of two factors - capital and labor.
where Y - production volume K - capital; L is good.
This is a static model. It does not reflect changes in production over time, including technical progress, improvement in the organization of labor and production, qualitative changes in the use of labor, entrepreneurial activity, etc.
The production function can be turned into a dynamic model and expressed by the formula
Y = F (K, L, E, T),
where E is entrepreneurial ability; The G-factor of time, taking into account technical progress.
In theory and practice, other models of the production function are also used.
Consequently, 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 activity 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 instruments of labor belong 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.
