Factors of production.

Raw materials, etc.) and entrepreneurial skills(including the ability to organize and manage, as well as ingenuity, willingness to take risks). Each of these factors has a price, namely: for land, for labor, for capital, for entrepreneurship.

Business. Explanatory dictionary. - M.: "INFRA-M", Publishing House "Ves Mir". Graham Betts, Barry Brindley, S. Williams and others. General editor: Ph.D. Osadchaya I.M.. 1998 .

See what "FACTORS OF PRODUCTION" are in other dictionaries:

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Factors of production- FACTORS OF PRODUCTION Resources used by a firm to produce a particular product or service: natural resources, labor and capital. To produce a given quantity of output, a firm selects such a combination of resources, with... ... Dictionary-reference book on economics

Books

• Design of technical systems for biogas production in livestock farming. Tutorial
• Design of technical systems for biogas production in livestock farming. Study guide. State stamp of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, Aleksandrov Igor Yuryevich, Zemskov Viktor Ivanovich. The manual covers current state organic waste processing methods, technological factors, influencing the biogas production process. Much attention is paid...

In the most general sense, resources (from the French ressource - auxiliary means) are funds, values, reserves, opportunities, sources of funds and income. Usually, economic resources are highlighted - everything that is necessary for the production process.

It should be noted that along with the concept of “resources of production” in the economic literature the concept of “factors of production” is often used as a synonym. A factor (from the Latin “factor” - doing, producing) is the cause, the driving force of any process, phenomenon, determining its character or its individual features.

In fact, what they have in common is that both resources and factors are the same natural and social forces with the help of which production is carried out. The difference between them is that resources include those natural and social forces that can be involved in production, and factors include resources actually involved in this process. Based on this, the concept of “resources” is broader than “factors of production”.

Today in Western economic theory it is customary to divide factors of production into three groups.

• Land as a factor of production is a natural resource and includes all the benefits provided by nature (land, water, minerals, etc.) used in the production process.
• Capital is everything that can generate income, or resources created by people to produce goods and services. This approach to this category synthesizes the points of view of Western economists on capital (for example, A. Smith interpreted capital as part of the stock used in material production, D. Ricardo - as a means of production, J. Robinson considered money as capital). In Marxist political economy, capital was understood differently - primarily as a value that brings surplus value (“self-increasing value”), as a determining economic relation, and a relation of exploitation.
• Labor is a purposeful activity of people that requires the application of mental and physical effort, during which they transform objects of nature to satisfy their needs. Strictly speaking, the “labor” factor also includes entrepreneurial abilities, which are sometimes considered as a separate factor of production. The fact is that land, labor and capital by themselves cannot create anything until they are united in a certain proportion by an entrepreneur, an organizer of production. It is for this reason that the activities of entrepreneurs and their abilities (entrepreneurship) are often considered as an independent factor of production.

In addition to these three basic resources at the society level, factors such as general culture, which varies from society to society, are often taken into account; science that has a universal, universal character; social factors, primarily the state of morality, legal culture.

An increasingly important role in the transition to the post-industrial stage of development of society is played by such a factor as information.

Information resources are resources in the form of scientific, scientific and technical, design, technological, statistical, management information and other types of spiritual and intellectual values ​​necessary for the creation (production) of economic benefits.

Since social production is carried out in the form joint activities people, it is possible to distinguish two sides of it:

• people's attitude towards nature;
• relationships between people in the production process.

First side social production, which means people’s relationship to nature, is externally expressed in the labor process. Labor is, first of all, a process taking place between man and nature. In the modern understanding, labor is a purposeful human activity aimed at transforming objects and forces of nature in order to satisfy his needs. Labor is the basis of the production process.

The main elements of the labor process are:

• labor itself as a purposeful activity;
• objects of labor;
• means of labor.

It is necessary to distinguish labor as a factor of production from labor power. Labor is primarily a process, while labor force- this is the totality of a person’s physical qualities and mental abilities, his ability to work. Thus, labor is the process of consuming labor power.

In the process of labor, a person influences a certain part of nature, which is called the “subject of labor.” The subject of labor is what human labor is directed towards (directly natural material or raw material that has already undergone some processing).

Human influence on the object of labor is carried out with the help of “means of labor”. The means of labor are a thing or a set of things that a person places between himself and the object of labor and which act as a conductor of his influence on this object. Means of labor are divided into two groups:

• natural, or natural (earth, forest, water, etc.);
• manufactured, or technical, created by people (machines, equipment, buildings, structures).

Objects of labor and means of labor are collectively called “means of production.” Together they form a material (objective) factor of production. Labor power is considered as a personal (subjective) factor of production. The means of production and human labor power constitute the productive forces.

Productive forces are one of the key categories of Marxist political economy. An approximate analogue of this category in economics is “factors (resources) of production.” It should be noted that in Marxist political economy priority was recognized for “ labor force", in economics - the equality of all factors of production (labor, capital, land) is affirmed.

In modern Russian economic literature, resources are usually divided into four groups:

• Natural resources – natural forces and substances of nature potentially suitable for use in production;
• Material resources are all man-made (i.e., man-made) means of production, which themselves are the result of production;
• Labor (human) resources – population of working age, capable of working;
• Financial (otherwise known as investment or monetary) resources are funds that society is able to allocate for the organization or development (expansion) of production.

Significance individual species resources changed with the transition from pre-industrial to industrial technology, and then from it to post-industrial technology. At the first stage, priority belonged to natural and labor resources, at the second stage - to material resources, in a post-industrial society - to intellectual and information resources.

In the production process, people not only influence nature, but also enter into certain relationships with each other. The relationships between people in the process of production, distribution, exchange and consumption of goods are called production relations.

Production relations represent a complex system, since production is not a single act, but a constantly repeating process of direct production of certain goods, their distribution, exchange and consumption. Outside the unity of these spheres, social production does not exist. In the sphere of production, a product is created that is the subject of distribution, exchange and consumption.

Thus, the second side of social production, covering relations between people, is expressed by the category “production relations”.

Production relations are in dialectical unity, interaction with productive forces. The most mobile side of social production is the productive forces. At certain stages of development, productive forces come into conflict with production relations, which turn into their brake.

The totality of productive forces and industrial relations constitutes a method of production. The mode of production and the superstructure (political, legal, philosophical and other views of society and the institutions corresponding to them) form a socio-economic formation, the economic system of society.

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The rental price of a production factor is the price of hiring or renting a production factor per unit of time. This includes workers' wages, rent, interest, etc.

Factor markets

Markets for factors of production are areas of commodity turnover of such the most important groups resources economic activity, such as land, natural resources and artificial raw materials, labor resources of various specialties and qualifications, capital and technical resources. The movement of factors of production is mediated by money markets and securities, is regulated by the relevant economic policy of the state. The market for production factors has its own characteristics. In general, the same laws of supply and demand and the same mechanism of competitive price equilibrium apply here. However, the factors of production themselves as commodity groups, their appropriation, distribution and use affect deeper socio-economic relations.

Therefore, factor markets are a special type of market in a market economy system. Unlike markets for final goods and services, where firms are sellers and consumers of goods and services are buyers, in factor markets firms are buyers of labor, natural resources, land, capital in its various forms - monetary, productive, in the form of loan or fictitious capital (capital presented in the form of securities). Firms use various types costs (production factors) for the production of goods and services. Some of them are raw materials and supplies, others are goods produced by other companies, and others are different types of labor. various classifications, the fourth are capital goods (produced means of production, for example, a car or a building), the fifth are various forms entrepreneurial activity, sixth – information.

There are many in various ways combination of factors of production to produce a given volume of output. To maximize profits, a firm must choose a production technology that minimizes the cost of producing its chosen volume of output. To do this, the company must have an idea, firstly, of the production function of a given enterprise, and secondly, of the prices prevailing in the market of production factors. When purchasing factors of production on the market, an enterprise faces the problem of pricing them. Prices in this case are determined by the interaction of changes in supply and demand for one or another factor; after all, they also act as goods. However, this demand is derivative. It depends on the demand for products manufactured using this resource, and the dependence here is directly proportional. Prices for resources, for example, labor, capital, are the main factor determining monetary income, and at the same time they perform the function of allocating resources across various industries and firms.

Features of entrepreneurship

The union of the owner and the entrepreneur in one person began to collapse with the advent of credit and became most pronounced with the development of joint stock companies. In a corporate economy, property as a legal factor loses its administrative functions. The role of property is becoming increasingly passive. The owner only owns a piece of paper. The manager is responsible for performance results. He is driven by the will to win, the desire to fight, and the special creative nature of his work.

Naturally, all this applies to countries with established market economies. During the transition period to the market, different laws apply.
The difference in the classification of factors of production between Marxist and Western economic theory is due to the class approach to the analysis of natural production. The given classification is flexible. The level and efficiency of production is increasingly influenced by modern science, informational and economic factors. The environmental factor of production is becoming increasingly important, acting either as an impetus for economic growth or limiting its capabilities due to the harmfulness of technology.

In specific industries, its elements are used in various combinations and in various proportions. Such interchangeability and quantitative variability are typical for modern production and are associated with limited resources on the one hand and the efficiency of their use on the other.
IN real life the entrepreneur strives to find a combination of production components that ensures the greatest output at the lowest cost. The multiplicity of combinations is due to scientific and technological progress and the state of the market for production factors. Production is fluid. It constantly undergoes large and small revolutions in technology, technology, and labor organization. The company is constantly searching for the most rational solutions. What gives a greater effect - “investments in the human factor, or in the growth of means of production” (capital)? How will an increase in factor A and a decrease in factor B affect the company's costs and income? At the same time, it is necessary to take into account constant changes in prices for production resources.

Main Factors of Production

The functioning of enterprises and households is based on the use of production factors and the receipt of corresponding income from their use. Factors of production are understood as particularly important elements or objects that have a decisive impact on the possibility and effectiveness of economic activity.
In previous lectures, the laws of supply and demand were considered, regardless of which product groups are included in market turnover and competitive pricing. Meanwhile, the market turnover of production factors has its own characteristics, although in general the same mechanism of competitive price equilibrium operates here. Behind the production resources involved in economic activity are always their owners (land, capital, labor, knowledge, etc.) and none of them will transfer the right to use this or that resource to other persons free of charge. Therefore, the movement of the main elements of production, their appropriation, disposal and use affects deeper socio-economic relations.
Recent decades have been characterized by an increase in resource costs and, as a result, a decrease in profitability from their use. Prices for land, energy, raw materials, and wages are rising. All this leads to a change in the behavior of people and firms in the global economy, encouraging them to find substitutes for increasingly expensive resources and ways to reduce production costs.
Demand for factors of production is made only by entrepreneurs, i.e. that part of society that is capable of organizing and implementing the production of products and services necessary for final consumption.
Production is the process of making material or spiritual goods. In order to start production, it is necessary to have at least someone who will produce and what they will produce from.
Marxist theory identifies human labor power, the subject of labor and the means of labor as factors of production, dividing them into two large groups: personal factor of production and material factor. The personal factor is the labor force, as the totality of a person’s physical and spiritual abilities to work. The means of production act as a material factor. The organization of production presupposes the coordinated functioning of these factors. Marxist theory proceeds from the fact that the interrelation of factors of production and the nature of their connection determine social orientation production, class composition of society and relations between classes.

Marginalist (neoclassical, Western) theory traditionally identifies four groups of factors of production: land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurial activity.
LAND is considered as a natural factor, as natural wealth and the fundamental basis of economic activity. Here from material factor natural conditions are allocated to a special fund. In this case, the term "earth" is used in in a broad sense words. It covers all the utilities that are given by nature in a certain volume and over the supply of which man has no control, be it the land itself, water resources or minerals. Unlike other factors of production, LAND has one important property - limitation. A person is not able to change its size at will. In relation to this factor, we can talk about the law of diminishing returns. This means the return on in quantitative terms or diminishing returns. A person can influence the fertility of the earth, but this influence is not unlimited. Other than that equal conditions, the continuous application of labor and capital to the land, to the extraction of minerals, will not be accompanied by a proportional increase in returns.

WORK is represented by the intellectual and physical activity of a person, the totality of the individual’s abilities, determined by the general and vocational education, skills, accumulated experience. 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 in order to produce a useful result.
“All work,” notes A. Marshall, “has as its goal to produce some result.” The time during which a person works is called working time. Its duration is a variable value and has physical and spiritual boundaries. A person cannot work twenty-four hours a day. He needs time to restore his ability to work and satisfy his spiritual needs. Scientific and technological progress leads to changes in the length of the working day, in the content and nature of work. Labor becomes more skilled, time increases vocational training personnel, productivity and labor intensity increases. The intensity of labor is understood as its intensity, the increase in the expenditure of physical and mental energy per unit of time. Labor productivity shows how much product is produced per unit of time. A variety of factors influence the increase in labor productivity.

CAPITAL is another factor of production and is considered as a set of means of labor that are used in the production of goods and services. The term "capital" has many meanings. In some cases, capital is identified with the means of production (D. Ricardo), in others - with accumulated material wealth, with money, with accumulated social intelligence. A. Smith considered capital as accumulated labor, K. Marx - as a self-increasing value, as public attitude. Capital can also be defined as investment resources used in the production of goods and services and their delivery to the consumer. Views on capital are varied, but they all agree on one thing: capital is associated with the ability of certain values ​​to generate income. Outside of movement, both the means of production and money are dead bodies.

Entrepreneurial activity is considered as specific factor production, bringing together all other factors and ensuring their interaction through knowledge, initiative, ingenuity and risk of the entrepreneur in organizing production. It's a special kind human capital. Entrepreneurial activity in its scale and results is equal to the costs of highly qualified labor.

An entrepreneur is an integral attribute of a market economy. The concept of "entrepreneur" is often associated with the concept of "owner". According to Cantilhomme (18th century), an entrepreneur is a person with an uncertain, non-fixed income (peasant, artisan, merchant, etc.). He receives other people's goods at a known price, but will sell them at a price still unknown to him. A. Smith characterized an entrepreneur as an owner who takes economic risks in order to implement a commercial idea and make a profit. The entrepreneur acts as an intermediary, combining factors of production at his discretion.

The rental price of a production factor is the price of hiring or renting a production factor per unit of time. This includes workers' wages, rent, interest, etc. Rental prices form the current income of the owners of production factors. At perfect competition in commodity and factor markets, the rental price of a factor is equal to the value of the marginal product of a given factor, i.e.: r = VMPK - MRPK. CAPITAL PRICE OF A FACTOR OF PRODUCTION is the price at which the purchase and sale of a particular factor of production is carried out. For example, the price of a company’s industrial building is 10 million rubles. This is its capital value. Funds for the purchase of this building are required today. When deciding to purchase a factor of production, the consumer compares the additional income obtained as a result of the use of a new unit of the factor with its rental price. The firm will purchase the services of a factor of production as long as the rental price of this factor is less than the additional income that this factor provides.
By purchasing a factor at its capital price, the future owner thereby acquires the services of the factor for the entire period of its use. Funds for the purchase of a factor of production must be spent in at the moment, and the owner will receive income from its use over a long period of use of the factor in the form of a stream of future income distributed over time. This is where the problem of commensurability arises. current expenses, associated with the acquisition of capital factors, with the flow of future income. Current expenses are compared with future income streams through discounting. Let us assume that an entrepreneur, purchasing, for example, a machine, estimates the expected income from its use.

The expected future income is summed up from the annual income from the use of the machine. Therefore, it is necessary to determine how much money needs to be paid for the machine at the present time in order to extract the desired income after a certain period of its use. The discounted or present value depends on: the interest rate; a specific amount of annual expected income. Let's look at these dependencies conditional examples. Let's say the interest rate is 5%, then the discounted cost is 1 thousand rubles. with a deposit for one year it is equal to: PV = 1000/(1+0.05) = 952.4 p. Now let's increase the interest rate to 10%. In this case, the discounted value is 1 thousand rubles. for one year will be: PV = 1000/(1+0.1) = 909.1 p. From the examples given, the higher the interest rate, the lower the discounted value will be. Let's move on to the second position.

What are factors of production?

Factors of production are resources needed to produce goods and services. Traditionally divided into components:

labor resources, or labor;
investment resources, or capital;
natural resources, or land;
entrepreneurial talent, or entrepreneurial abilities;
information; a specific form of information is technology;

Labor is a purposeful human activity to create economic benefits, a manifestation of the totality of a person’s mental and physical abilities.
Capital includes the totality of goods created by human past labor. It is a mistaken belief that stocks, bonds, money, and bank deposits do not belong to this factor of production.

Land as a factor of production covers all agricultural land and urban land that is allocated for residential or industrial development, as well as the totality of natural conditions necessary for the production of goods and services.

Entrepreneurial talent presupposes a person’s special abilities, which consist in his ability to:

organize the production and release of goods and services by combining all the necessary factors of production;
make major decisions on production management and business management;
risk money, time, labor, business reputation, since activity in the market is associated with great uncertainty, and the result is not guaranteed;
to be an innovator, that is, to introduce new technologies, new products, methods of organizing production.

One of the key economic resources at the present stage of development of society is information.

Possession of reliable information is a necessary condition for solving the problems facing an economic entity. However, even complete information is not a guarantee of success. The ability to use the information received to make the best decision under the current circumstances characterizes such a resource as knowledge. The carriers of this resource are qualified personnel in the field of management, sales and customer service, maintenance goods. It is this resource that gives the greatest return in business. “What distinguishes a strong company from a weak one is, first of all, the level of qualifications of its specialists and management staff, their knowledge, motivation and aspirations”

In a market economy, all of the above economic resources are freely bought and sold and bring their owners special (factor) income:

rent (land);
interest (capital);
wages (labor);
profit (entrepreneurial ability).

German economist and philosopher of the 19th century. Karl Marx identified personal and material factors of production, while the person himself, as the bearer of labor power, acts as a personal factor, and the material factor of production refers to the means of production, which in turn consist of means of labor and objects of labor.

A means of labor is “... a thing or a complex of things that a person places between himself and the object of labor and which serves for him as a conductor of his influence on this object.” Means of labor, and above all tools of labor, include machines, machine tools, tools with which a person influences nature, as well as industrial buildings, land, canals, roads, etc. The use and creation of means of labor is a characteristic feature labor activity person. In a broader sense, the means of labor include all the material conditions of labor, without which it cannot be carried out. The general condition of labor is the land, the working conditions are also industrial buildings, roads, etc. The results of social knowledge of nature are embodied in the means of labor and the processes of their production use, in engineering and technology. The level of development of technology (and technology) serves as the main indicator of the degree to which society has mastered the forces of nature. “Technology reveals man’s active relationship to nature, the direct process of production of his life”

Objects of labor are a substance of nature that a person influences during the labor process in order to adapt it for personal or industrial consumption. An object of labor that has already undergone the influence of human labor, but intended for further processing, is called Raw Material. Some finished products may also enter the production process as an object of labor (for example, grapes in the wine industry, animal oil in the confectionery industry). “If we consider the entire process from the point of view of its result - the product, then both the means of labor and the object of labor both act as means of production, and the labor itself - as productive labor”

According to K. Marx, the totality of production factors act as productive forces that are inextricably linked with production relations. Some characterize the material content of the social production process, while others characterize its historically determined form. Evolving, each stage of development of productive forces, characterized by the type of production relations, constitutes a unique mode of production.

Non-Marxist economic theorists do not agree with K. Marx’s position that new value is created only by hired workers, but believe that all factors of production take an equal part in its creation. Thus, Alfred Marshall wrote: “capital in general and labor in general interact in the production of the national dividend and receive their income from it according to the measure of their (marginal) productivity. Their mutual dependence is the closest; capital is dead without labor; a worker without the help of his own or someone else's capital will not live long. When labor is energetic, capital reaps rich fruits and grows rapidly; Thanks to capital and knowledge, the ordinary worker of the Western world is fed, clothed and even housed in many respects better than the princes of former times. Cooperation between capital and labor is as necessary as that between spinner and weaver; slight priority on the spinner's side, but this does not give him any advantage. The prosperity of each of them is closely connected with the strength and energy of the other, although each of them can gain for itself temporarily, or even permanently, at the expense of the other, a somewhat larger share of the national dividend.”

The main factors of production are labor, land and capital

In the most general sense, resources (from the French ressource - auxiliary means) are funds, values, reserves, opportunities, sources of funds and income. Usually, economic resources are highlighted - everything that is necessary for the production process.

It should be noted that along with the concept of “resources of production” in the economic literature the concept of “factors of production” is often used as a synonym. A factor (from the Latin “factor” - doing, producing) is the cause, the driving force of any process, phenomenon, determining its character or its individual features.

In fact, what they have in common is that both resources and factors are the same natural and social forces with the help of which production is carried out. The difference between them is that resources include those natural and social forces that can be involved in production, and factors include resources actually involved in this process. Based on this, the concept of “resources” is broader than “factors of production”.
Today in Western economic theory it is customary to divide factors of production into three groups.

Land as a factor of production is a natural resource and includes all the benefits provided by nature (land, water, minerals, etc.) used in the production process.
Capital is everything that can generate income, or resources created by people to produce goods and services. This approach to this category synthesizes the points of view of Western economists on capital (for example, A. Smith interpreted capital as part of the stock used in material production, D. Ricardo - as a means of production, J. Robinson considered money as capital). In Marxist political economy, capital was understood differently - primarily as a value that brings surplus value (“self-increasing value”), as a determining economic relation, and a relation of exploitation.
Labor is a purposeful activity of people that requires the application of mental and physical effort, during which they transform objects of nature to satisfy their needs. Strictly speaking, the “labor” factor also includes entrepreneurial abilities, which are sometimes considered as a separate factor of production. The fact is that land, labor and capital by themselves cannot create anything until they are united in a certain proportion by an entrepreneur, an organizer of production. It is for this reason that the activities of entrepreneurs and their abilities (entrepreneurship) are often considered as an independent factor of production.

Factors- these are the main reasons and conditions for production. The whole essence of production is 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 production potential.

In its simplest form, the totality of production factors is reduced to a triad land, labor, capital, embodying the participation of natural and labor resources, means of production in the creation of a product of economic activity. A number of authors of books on economics call the fourth factor entrepreneurship. But expanding 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 a little 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 converted into raw materials from which all the variety of material and material products of production are made. Nature, including not only the Earth, but also the Sun, represents an energy storehouse of production, which, as we know, is not able to function without replenishment with energy. The natural environment, the Earth, is at the same time a production site on which the means of production are located and workers work. Finally, nature is important for production as a factor not only in current production, but also in future production.

Despite 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 raw materials, undergo transformation into materials and then into the main means of production, acting as active, creative factors. Therefore, in a number of factor models, the natural factor as such often does not appear explicitly, which does not in any way reduce its importance for production.

Labor factor represented in the production process by the labor of the workers involved in it. The combination of labor with other factors of production initiates production 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 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, taking into account the pronounced resource nature of economic factors of production, quite often it is not labor itself that is considered as a production factor as the expenditure of a person’s physical and mental energy or working time, but labor resources, the number of people employed in production or the working-age population. This approach is often used in macroeconomic factor models. It is also important to know and understand that the labor factor of production activity is manifested not only in the number of workers and labor costs, but also, to no lesser extent, in the quality and efficiency of their work, in labor output. In real calculations, not only the labor expended is taken into account, 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, participates in production only in one aspect of its existence, the so-called living labor. At the same time, work for a person is rather one of the conditions, and not the goal, purpose, way of his existence. As for the means of production, they are created precisely for production, intended and devote themselves entirely to production. In this sense, capital as a factor of production is even higher than the labor factor.

Capital as a production factor can act in different types, forms and measured differently. It has already been noted that productive capital personifies and physical, and turning into it money capital. Physical capital is presented in the form of fixed capital (fixed means of production), but it is legal to add working capital to it ( working capital), which also plays the role of a production factor as the most important material resource and 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 and investments in production are often considered as such. This approach is legitimate, since in the long term, 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 beneficial 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 in qualitative rather than quantitative terms. Entrepreneurial initiative increases the return of the labor factor in production.

Let's name another significant production factor. Generally it is called scientific and technical level of production. In its economic essence, the scientific-technical (technical-technological) level expresses the degree of technical and technological perfection of production. This factor is discussed in more detail in the subsequent section of this chapter. A high scientific and technical level of production leads to increased returns to the labor factor (labor productivity) and capital (fixed assets), i.e. manifests itself through other factors. At the same time, the scientific and technical level of production is also an independently acting factor. By helping to improve the technical level and quality of manufactured products, technical and technological progress makes it possible to increase demand for them, and this leads to an increase in prices and sales volumes, the cost of the sold product. So scientific, technical, technological progress, raising the technical level of production, will create in its person another significant production factor.

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

Production function and its factors

The theory of factors of production relies to a certain extent on the use of mathematical modeling apparatus, which are factor models in the form of a mathematical relationship that connects the value of the resulting production result with the values ​​of the production factors that determined this result. The most common type of such factor models are the so-called ones. A typical type of such a function is a dependence, a formula connecting the maximum output (production volume) Q with the factors on which this release depends. In general, the production function can be represented as follows:

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 total production in in monetary terms from the general, 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 enterprise-wide production. If the production function is used in microeconomics, 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 and represents a common economic model. This function looks like

Q = a L α K β ,

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

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

Rice. 1. Production volumes at different values ​​of production factors

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

Curves whose points correspond to combinations of production factors that ensure the output of the same volume of products 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, used mainly in theoretical research, but they also have practical applications.

1. The concept of factors of production: labor, land, capital, entrepreneurial abilities.

2. Labor as the main factor of production. The concept of the labor market. Specifics Russian market labor.

3. Capital as the main factor of production. Division of capital into fixed and working capital. The concept of human capital.

4. Land as a special factor of production. The concept of rent.

5. Entrepreneurship as a factor of production.

In previous lectures, when considering the main problems of the modern economy, special attention was paid to the problem of limited resources in modern world required for production. Also from the topic “Property and forms of entrepreneurial activity” we know that resources are objects of property, and this is not a coincidence, since each resource has its own material content and socio-economic form. The latter is determined by the nature of ownership of resources. At the same time, in theory and in practice, factors of production are identified, so there is a need to understand how resources and factors of production relate to each other.

In economic theory, the concept "resources” denote everything that society has at its disposal for the production of goods and services.

These include the following:

- natural (natural) resources- land and its subsoil, water and forest resources;

- material resources, represented by all the means of production available to society, i.e. tools of production, production buildings, structures, machines, machines, equipment, raw materials, materials, fuel, various types of energy, etc.;

- labor resources, represented by the labor force, i.e. population of working age;

- financial resources in the form cash, which are necessary for the production process;

- information resources, necessary for modern computerized production.

At the same time, some resources are in the form of free or gratuitous goods (air, water, sunlight), which people still receive largely free of charge. Other resources, while rare, are available in relatively limited quantities. Basically we are talking about natural, material, labor and other resources. These benefits are called economic or economic in economic theory. All members of society have to pay for them and therefore use them rationally or efficiently.

Absolute limitation is mainly characteristic of natural and labor resources, while relative limitation is characteristic of material, financial and information resources.

The resources of society involved in the production of goods and services become its factors. In turn, production refers to the combination and use of various economic resources to obtain a variety of goods and services.

At the same time, we know that all resources are objects of property. As a result, each resource has its own material content and socio-economic form, determined by ownership of it. Production resources, presented in the unity of their material content and socio-economic (proprietary) form, are called factors of production. Thus, if we have a free resource in the form of air, then it cannot be a factor of production; if we have an economic resource in the form of, for example, a production line or workers, then this is necessarily a factor of production, since it is owned by someone.

For a long time, the interpretation of factors of production was based on theory of three factors, put forward by J.-B. Say, who proposed to consider such land, capital and labor. In the 20th century I. Schumpeter proposed another factor of production - entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is a special kind human resources, which is able to most effectively use all other factors of production, i.e. the entrepreneur takes the initiative to combine the resources of labor, capital and land (natural resources) into a single process of production of goods and services. It acts as a catalyst for this process. Thus, the modern interpretation of factors of production is based on the theory of four factors.

In Western Economics, the emphasis is placed only on the material content of factors of production. So, to the factor “ Earth“refers to all natural resources that are given by nature and over the supply of which man has virtually no control. These include, for example, arable land, forests, mineral deposits, water resources and others, regardless of who owns this land or other natural resources. This is done, according to the authors, in order not to aggravate relations between different owners of natural resources and not to notice their different attitudes towards the use of these resources. Although it is possible to cite facts when own land people work much more productively than on rented or state land.

Factor " work"in Economics is used to refer to any labor activity associated with achieving any result in the production of goods and services. All work performed by workers, engineers, teachers, doctors, artists, scientists and many others is covered by the concept of “labor”.

In Marxist theory, a factor of production is considered to be labor power as the totality of the physical and spiritual abilities of a person that he possesses and which he is ready to use in the production of goods. Labor itself is seen here as a process of consumption (use) of labor power, which can neither be sold nor bought. It is believed that employee sells to the capitalist not labor, but labor power. The latter, according to Marx, becomes a special commodity, since the owner of labor power, separated from ownership of the means of production, is forced to become its seller in order to live and feed his family. Thus, Marx’s labor force as a factor of production is considered both from the material and material and from the socio-economic (proprietary) side.

IN recent years the factor “labor” is beginning to be called “human capital”, and its owners, as highly qualified and educated workers, can count on increased income compared to people of average and lower qualifications (this will be discussed in detail in the third question of our lecture).

To the factor " capital» Western economists include all those means of production (equipment, machines, tools, industrial buildings and structures) that are used in the production and delivery of goods and services to the final consumer. They are also called investment goods, in contrast to consumer goods purchased by the population, but this is again a material interpretation of capital, absolutely unrelated to ownership of resources, and does not take into account who owns them, how and by whom they are used. If, for example, production resources are owned by an entrepreneur, then we observe one attitude towards their use; if he rents them or takes them from the state, then he has a completely different, less zealous attitude towards them.

Entrepreneurship is another one important factor production. It is understood as the special labor efforts of entrepreneurs: management and organizational skills necessary for firms to produce goods and provide services, the ability to most effectively combine and use all other factors of production. In case of success, the entrepreneur receives entrepreneurial profit, in case of failure, he incurs losses, therefore knowledge, experience, and the ability to take reasonable risks are very important for any company and enterprise.

Here, in the foreground in the description of entrepreneurship, the emphasis in “Economics” is again on the material side. It is one thing when an entrepreneur is at the same time the owner of any natural, material, financial or information resources and uses them very effectively, and another thing when he is again a tenant, and not the owner of resources, when he owns one, two bundles of rights out of 11, known to us from the lecture on property.

Thus, resources become real factors of production only in the unity of their material content and proprietary form.

An important point in the analysis of the main factors of production is the determination of prices for production factors, and, consequently, the demand for them. Prices for factors of production under conditions of perfect competition are determined by the relationship between supply and demand . However, it is necessary to note two important points, affecting the demand and, accordingly, the price of factors. Firstly, the demand for factors of production and the level of their prices are derived from consumer demand, since labor, capital, land are ultimately necessary in order to produce necessary for people consumer goods.

Consequently, the demand for a particular factor of production depends on the demand for goods produced with the help of this factor. The demand for labor, capital and land is always derived demand. For example, the demand for weavers' labor is determined by society's demand for fabric; the demand for land suitable for growing vegetables is determined by the demand for vegetables, etc. This means that the amount of demand for a certain factor depends on the productivity of this factor in creating the product and on the price of the product. produced by the factor.

Secondly, all factors of production are economically and technologically interconnected; they cannot be used separately. To produce goods, all four factors are needed in a certain ratio to each other. The size of demand for each factor depends not only on the price level for this factor, but also on the price level for other resources: for example, the demand for labor depends not only on rates wages, but also on how many machines and raw materials will be purchased and what their prices are.

When the price of a certain factor of production increases, the demand for it (other things being equal) will decrease, and the demand for another factor will increase; a higher price, for example, for labor will lead to its substitution by machines. Possibility of interchange various factors production allows you to combine them in a ratio that ensures the lowest production costs and the greatest profit.