Social needs and their types are economic benefits. Economic Needs, Resources and Benefits

Needs are the driving force behind the development of society. These are some objectively existing desires (requests) of people that are associated with ensuring their development and life.

What is a need?

Need is a special psychological state of the individual, realized or felt by him as "dissatisfaction". This is the existing discrepancy between the external and internal conditions of life. The need usually induces activity, which is aimed at eliminating this discrepancy.

Social, spiritual and material needs

So diverse are the needs that there are many classifications of them. In classical science, it is customary to distinguish 3 groups of needs: social, spiritual and material. In the first place is the satisfaction of the material: in clothing, housing, water, food. The means by which needs are met are called material goods. These can be basic necessities or luxuries, as well as services (legal, medical advice, car repairs, etc.).

Spiritual needs are associated with the need for the development of the individual as a person. They are satisfied by getting an education, reading books, getting involved in art, and possessing information.

Through the participation of people in public and collective activities, socio-economic needs are realized: in trade unions, parties, public funds, creative circles, charitable organizations.

Other classifications of needs

There are other divisions as well. For example, according to the types of subjects of needs, they are divided into public, collective, family and individual. Representatives of neoclassical science in economics (for example, A. Marshall, an English economist) divided them into relative and absolute, lower and higher, urgent and those that can be postponed, indirect and direct. Needs are also distinguished by areas of action: communication, labor, recreation (restoration of working capacity, rest) and economic needs. Let's take a closer look at the latter.

Economic Needs are part of human needs, for the satisfaction of which there must be production, exchange, distribution and consumption of services and goods. It is this type of need that is involved in the interaction between unsatisfied needs and production.

Maslow's theory

The theory of A. Maslow, an American sociologist, has gained great popularity in modern Western literature (his photo is presented below). All needs, in accordance with this classification, can be arranged in the form of a pyramid, in ascending order from material (“lower”) needs to spiritual (“higher”).

The following types are distinguished:

• physiological needs (drinking, eating, etc.);
• safe (in protection from fear, anger and pain, etc.);
• in social ties (friendly, family, religious);
• in the acquisition of social status (in approval, recognition);
• in self-expression (realization of personality abilities).

This classification can be represented as a pyramid, at the top of which there will be needs for self-expression, and at the bottom - physiological ones. The lower order needs, according to Maslow, are physiological and security needs, and the higher order needs are in social status and self-expression. Higher needs do not arise until the lower ones are satisfied.

Interrelation and interdependence of needs

It is possible to supplement the classification of needs by highlighting the following types: irrational and rational, concrete and abstract, unconscious and conscious, etc. But it should be remembered that any classification is quite conditional, since the economic needs of a particular type are interdependent and interrelated. The material needs of people appear not only under the influence of the vital functions of the human body, but also to a significant extent under the influence of the scientific, technical and economic development of society, social and spiritual guidelines. And social, intellectual and spiritual needs specific to any social stratum and individual arise under the influence of material ones. They largely depend on the degree of satisfaction of the latter.

Historical character and dynamism of needs

The economic needs of society have a historical character. The ways of satisfying them and their size depend on the life demands and habits with which society as a whole, social strata and individuals were formed, that is, in what socio-historical conditions they are. The economic needs of society are dynamic. Social progress, human improvement, the intensity of information exchange - these are the factors under the influence of which requests change.

A continuous change in the qualitative and quantitative ratio that economic needs and benefits undergo, a steady increase in the process of the evolutionary development of society - this is the law of the rise of needs. Their change occurred at a relatively low rate, smoothly over many centuries and millennia. Today, the pace at which economic needs and benefits are growing has accelerated significantly. At the same time, there is a social uniformity in their rise, the emergence of ever larger masses of the population of needs of a higher order.

Economic and natural goods

The satisfaction of economic needs, constantly growing, occurs in the process of consumption of various goods. They can be divided, in turn, into 2 large groups: economic and natural. Natural are in the very environment of human existence (sunlight, air). They do not require the costs and efforts of people for their consumption and production. Benefits that satisfy economic needs are the result of economic activity.

Features and classification of economic benefits

They must be produced before they are put into use. Therefore, the ultimate goal production activities of any society and the basis of its life is precisely the creation of such goods. Economic needs and resources, as well as various benefits, have a rather complex classification. Benefits are subdivided, depending on the criterion underlying them, into several groups.

1. Long-term, which involve repeated use (book, car, videos, electrical appliances, etc.) and short-term, which disappear after a single use (matches, drinks, meat, bread, etc.).
2. Substitutes (interchangeable) and complementary (mutually complementary). Not only production resources and consumer goods are classified as substitutes, but also transport services (car-aircraft-train), leisure activities (circus-theater-cinema), etc. Speaking of complementary goods, we can cite as an example a chair and a table, a pen and paper, a car and gasoline, which, complementing each other, satisfy the economic needs of a person.
3. Present benefits that are at the disposal of one or another economic entity, and future ones (their creation is only expected).
4. Intangible and material.
5. Private and public.
6. indirect and direct.
7. Means of production and consumer goods.

Tangible and intangible goods

The development of economic needs is in the direction of increasing the consumption of material and intangible goods. The former are the result of the functioning of one or another material production (construction, Agriculture, industry, etc.). These are clothes, food, cars, buildings, Appliances, sporting goods, etc.

The second (non-material benefits) exist in the form of activities: treatment, education, communal, household or transport services to the population, etc. Intangible goods are fundamentally different from material goods in that the consumption of the latter is always preceded by the process of their creation. Both in space and in time these two processes are separated. Unlike goods, the production of services at the same time acts as their consumption, that is, there is, as a rule, no time gap.

public goods

Public goods are those goods that are in collective, general consumption. For example, public order, national defense, street lighting, etc. Non-exclusion from consumption and non-selectivity are hallmarks this type of good.

Non-selectivity means that such benefits cannot be provided individual so as not to simultaneously satisfy the needs of other people for them. Non-excludability means indivisibility, that is, consumers who have not paid for their production cannot be excluded from using them. The state, acting as a producer of these benefits, granting the right to non-payers to use them, applies special methods of influencing them. Producers of private goods behave differently.

private goods

Private goods are goods that are consumed by an individual (shoes, clothing) or a group of people (fuel, electricity, equipment). Their consumption is preceded by their purchase in the market. As a result of this purchase, the buyer reimburses the costs of their creation to the manufacturer. Only if this condition is met, the consumer receives a private good. Its further fate, as a rule, is no longer of interest to the manufacturer.

Indirect and direct benefits

There are also indirect and direct characteristics of goods. Direct - those that directly enter human consumption, and indirect, in contrast to them, indirectly. Economic goods are therefore classified as means of production and commodities. The latter are used for home, family, personal and other types of public consumption. Various means of labor (devices, tools, structures, buildings, equipment, machines) and objects of labor (energy, materials) created by people and subsequently used in their labor activity are means of production.

Now you know what the benefits of society and economic needs are. The economy today is actively developing and is beginning to produce better and better goods. However, this creates new needs. Perhaps they cannot be fully satisfied. The demands of society are constantly growing, and what was a luxury for one generation is already everyday for another.

1. Economic resources
2. Economic efficiency

The economic life of society is based on the need to satisfy people's needs for various economic benefits. At the same time, these benefits are produced on the basis of economic resources, which are at the disposal of the society and its members.

Economic Needs and Benefits

All people have different needs. They can be divided into two parts: spiritual and material needs. Although the ϶ᴛᴏ division is conditional (for example, it is difficult to say that a person's need for knowledge belongs to spiritual or material needs), but for the most part it is possible.

The concept of economic needs and benefits

Material needs can be called economic needs. It is worth noting that they are expressed in the fact that we want various economic benefits. At the same time, economic benefits are ϶ᴛᴏ material and intangible objects, more precisely, the properties of these objects that can satisfy economic needs. Economic needs are one of the fundamental categories in economic theory.

At the dawn of mankind, people satisfied their economic needs at the expense of ready-made goods of nature. In the future, the vast majority of needs began to be satisfied through the production of goods. AT market economy, where economic goods are bought and sold, they are called goods and services (often simply goods, products, products)

Mankind is arranged in such a way that its economic needs usually exceed the possibilities for the production of goods. They even talk about the law (principle) of the rise of needs, which means that needs grow faster than the production of goods. In many ways, ϶ᴛᴏ happens because as we meet some needs, we immediately have others.

Thus, in a traditional society, the majority of its members feel the need primarily for essential products. These are the needs mainly for food, clothing, housing, and the simplest services. At the same time, even in the nineteenth century. Prussian statistician Ernest Engel proved that there is a direct relationship between the type of goods and services purchased and the income level of consumers. According to his statements, confirmed by practice, with an increase in the absolute amount of income, the share spent on essential goods and services decreases, and the share of spending on less necessary products increases. The very first need, and a daily one, is the need for food. For ϶ᴛᴏmu Engel's law finds expression in the fact that with the growth of incomes, their share goes to the purchase of food decreases, and that part of the income increases, which is spent on the purchase of other goods (especially services), which are non-essential products.

Ultimately, we come to the conclusion that if the growth of economic needs constantly overtakes the production of economic goods, then these needs are completely insatiable, limitless.

Another conclusion is that economic benefits are limited (rare, in the terminology of economic theory), i.e. less need for them. This limitation is due to the fact that the production of economic goods is faced with a limited supply of many natural resources, a frequent shortage of labor (especially skilled), insufficiency production capacity and finance, cases of poor organization of production, lack of technology and other knowledge for the production of a particular good. In other words, the production of economic goods lags behind economic needs because of the limited economic resources.

Economic resources

The concept of economic resources

Economic resources are understood as all types of resources used in the process of production of goods and services. In essence, ϶ᴛᴏ those goods that can be used to produce other goods. Therefore, they are often called production resources, factors of production, factors of production, factors of economic growth. At the same time, the rest of the goods are called consumer goods.

Types of economic resources

To economic resources ᴏᴛʜᴏϲᴙ are:

• Natural resources(land, subsoil, water, forest and biological, climatic and recreational resources), abbreviated as land;
• labor resources(people with their ability to produce goods and services), abbreviated as labor;
• capital (in the form of money, i.e. money capital, or means of production, i.e. real capital);
• entrepreneurial abilities (the ability of people to organize the production of goods and services), in short - entrepreneurship;
• knowledge necessary for economic life.

Even Aristotle, and after him, medieval thinkers considered labor to be one of the main economic resources. A similar approach was shared by the first economic school in the world - mercantilism. The physiocratic school attributed special importance to the land as an economic resource. Adam Smith considered such economic resources as labor, land and capital. At the same time, the theory of the three factors of production was most clearly formulated by the French economist Jean Baptiste Say (1767-1832). The English economist Alfred Marshall (1842-1924) suggested adding a fourth factor - entrepreneurial ability. Many modern economists are inclined to believe that now in importance as a factor economic growth the “knowledge” factor came out on top, calling it differently - technology, scientific and technological progress, science, information.

Infinity of needs and limited economic resources as the basis of economic theory.

As noted above, in life we ​​often face the fact that economic resources are limited. It was also emphasized that economic needs are limitless.

This combination of two situations typical of economic life - limitless needs and limited resources - forms the basis of the entire economy, economic theory. In essence, ϶ᴛᴏ is a science that “studies how a society with limited, scarce resources decides what, how and for whom to produce”, or, to put it another way, it “explores the problems of efficient use or management of limited productive resources in order to achieving maximum satisfaction of human material needs” 2

2 Quot. by: McConnell K.R., Brew S.L. Economics / Per. from English. In 2 vol. M., 1992. T. 1. S. 18.

It is impossible to reduce modern economic theory only to ϶ᴛᴏ. At the same time, the contradiction between the infinity of needs and the limited resources forms the axis around which economic life revolves, and the core of economics as a science. A household, a firm, the entire national economy has to constantly make a choice on the purchase or production of what goods should be spent ϲʙᴏand resources, which are almost always limited.

Interweaving, mobility and fungibility of economic resources

Resources are intertwined. For example, such an economic resource as knowledge is used when natural resources tend to be consumed more rationally on the basis of new knowledge (scientific achievements) Knowledge will be an important element of such a resource as labor, when it is evaluated from a qualitative point of view and attention is paid to the qualifications of workers, which depends primarily on the education (knowledge) they have received. real capital. Finally, they (especially managerial knowledge) allow entrepreneurs to organize the production of goods and services in the most rational way.

Economic resources are mobile (mobile), as they can move in space (within the country, between countries), although the degree of their mobility is different. Natural resources are the least mobile, the mobility of many of them is close to zero (it is difficult to move land from one place to another, although it is possible) Labor resources are more mobile, as can be seen from the internal and external labor migration in the world in noticeable sizes (see Ch. 36) Entrepreneurial abilities are even more mobile, although often they do not move on their own, but together with labor resources or / and capital (϶ᴛᴏ due to the fact that either hired managers or owners of capital will be carriers of entrepreneurial abilities) the last two resources are capital (especially money) and knowledge.

The interweaving of resources and their mobility partly reflect their other function - interchangeability (alternativeness). ), or expand the ϲʙᴏ th park of machinery and equipment (increase ϲʙᴏ th capital), or improve the organization of labor on the farm (wider use of ϲʙᴏ and entrepreneurial abilities), or, finally, use new types of seeds (apply new knowledge) The farmer has a similar choice because economic resources are fungible (alternative)

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

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

Cobb-Douglas model

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

The concept of resource markets

In a market economy, each of the economic resources is a large resource market - the labor market, the capital market, etc., consisting, in turn, of many markets for a particular resource. For example, the labor market consists of markets for workers of different specialties - economists, accountants, engineers, etc.

production possibilities. Limit values

As already noted, on the basis of economic resources, the production of economic goods is carried out. With limited (rare) resources, it is necessary to determine what kind of goods to produce and what production possibilities exist for ϶ᴛᴏ.

The concept of production possibilities. Production Possibility Curve

production capabilities are called opportunities for the production of goods (output) The need for a constant choice of what resources and in what quantities to use for the production of goods is clearly demonstrated by a model called the “production possibilities curve”.

Table 2.1. The country's production capacity for the production of cars and aircraft per year

Figure No. 2.1. Production Possibility Curve

To simplify, let's imagine that a country produces only two goods - cars and airplanes. If she concentrates all her economic resources on the production of cars only, she will be able to produce 10 million units in a year. If it also needs to produce 1 thousand aircraft, then ϶ᴛᴏ is possible with a reduction in the production of cars to 9 million units. It is worth saying that for the production of 2 thousand aircraft, it will be necessary to reduce the production of cars to 7 million units, and for the production of 3 thousand aircraft - to 4 million units. With the production of 4 thousand aircraft, the country is forced to completely abandon the production of cars (Table 2.1 and Figure 2.1)

Based on all of the above, we come to the conclusion that in order to increase the production of aircraft, it is necessary to abandon an increasing number of cars. We can say that the cost of aircraft produced is determined by the number of cars, the production of which must be abandoned.

Opportunity cost

Opportunity cost - ϶ᴛᴏ what one has to give up in order to get what one wants.

"Cited by: Mankiw N.G. Principles of economics / Translated from English. St. Petersburg, 1999. P. 32.

It is not for nothing that the opportunity cost is often referred to as the opportunity cost. So, in the example under consideration, the production of 4 thousand aircraft means the rejection of the production of 10 million cars.

Of course, in real life, missed opportunities are not limited to one or even two types of products, the production of which has to be abandoned, they are numerous. Therefore, when determining the opportunity cost, it is recommended to take into account the best of the lost real opportunities. So, when studying at a full-time university after school, a girl misses the opportunity to work during the ϶ᴛᴏt period as a secretary (and not as a loader or watchman) and receive a ϲᴏᴏᴛʙᴇᴛϲᴛʙsustaining salary. The salary of the secretary will be for her the opportunity cost (opportunity cost) of studying at the full-time department of the university. Opportunity costs in Russia are often called imputed, and opportunity cost - imputed. Note that as the production of a good increases, its opportunity cost increases. So, in our example, the production of 1 thousand aircraft requires the abandonment of the production of 1 million cars, 2 thousand aircraft - already 3 million cars, 3 thousand aircraft - 6 million cars, and for the production of 4 thousand aircraft, it is necessary to completely abandon the production of cars, those. for each additional thousand aircraft, more and more automobiles must be abandoned. We can say that the opportunity cost of the first thousand aircraft is 1 million cars, and the fourth thousand aircraft - already 4 million cars. In other words, for each additional unit of a product produced, more and more of another, alternative product has to be sacrificed. The reasons for the growth of opportunity costs are primarily in the incomplete substitutability of resources.

The law of increasing opportunity cost. Law of diminishing returns

The increase in opportunity costs as each additional unit of output is produced will be a well-known, tested and taken into account regularity in economic life. Therefore, this pattern is called the law of increasing opportunity costs. .

An even more well-known law, closely related to the above, is the law of diminishing returns (productivity). It can be formulated in the following way: a continuous increase in the use of one resource in combination with an unchanged amount of other resources at a certain stage leads to the cessation of the growth of returns from it, and then to its reduction. This law is based again on the incomplete interchangeability of resources. After all, replacing one of them with another (others) is possible up to a certain limit. For example, if four resources: land, labor, entrepreneurial abilities, knowledge - are left unchanged and such a resource as capital is increased (for example, the number of machines in a factory with a constant number of machine operators), then at a certain stage there comes a limit, beyond which further the growth of the specified factor of production becomes less and less. The performance of a machine operator who maintains an increasing number of machines decreases, the percentage of scrap increases, machine downtime increases, etc.

Let's say that a farm grows wheat. An increase in the use of chemical fertilizers (if other factors remain unchanged) leads to an increase in yield. Let's study ϶ᴛᴏ using an example (per 1 ha):

We see that, starting from the fourth increase in the production factor, the increase in yield, although it continues, but on an ever smaller scale, and then stops altogether. In other words, the increase in one production factor, while the others remain unchanged at one stage or another, begins to fade and eventually vanishes.

The law of diminishing returns can also be interpreted in another way: the growth of each additional unit of production requires, from a certain point on, ever greater expenditures of the economic resource. In our example, to increase the yield of wheat by 1 quintal, first 0.2 bags of fertilizer are required (after all, one bag is needed to increase the yield by 5 quintals), then 0.143 and 0.1 bags. But then (with an increase in yield over 42 centners), an increase in the cost of fertilizers for each additional centner of wheat begins - 0.11; 0.143 and 0.25 bags. After ϶ᴛᴏ, the increase in fertilizer costs does not give an increase in yield at all. In this interpretation, the law is called the law of increasing opportunity costs (increasing costs)

Limit (margin) values

The marginal (marginal, from French marginal - located on the edge of something) value is understood as the increase in one value caused by the increase in another value per unit (provided that all other values ​​remain unchanged)

In the wheat example, the increase in mineral fertilizer per unit (bag) gives a different increase in yield. All the given values ​​of the increase in yield (5, 7, 10.9, 7.4 q) will be the limit values, more precisely, the limit products of such a factor as mineral fertilizers. Let us once again pay attention to the fact that the value of the marginal product in ϲᴏᴏᴛʙᴇᴛϲᴛʙi with the law of diminishing returns from a certain moment begins to constantly decrease (although ϶ᴛᴏ often occurs from the very beginning)

The law of increasing costs demonstrates that as wheat yield increases, the cost of mineral fertilizers for the growth of each centner of wheat (they are called marginal costs) change, and with a tendency to increase. It can be concluded that in the ϶ᴛᴏm case, the income received from the use of each additional bag of fertilizers also changes (reduces) - it is called marginal income.

Finally, limit values can be used not only by the manufacturer, but also by the consumer. For example, when they evaluate the usefulness of a particular good. The consumer proceeds primarily from the availability (rarity) of this or that good for him. If clean drinking water is rare for him, then he is ready to pay dearly for each liter of it (based on the money he has and their purchasing power). size and is willing to pay much less per liter. Thus, as the quantity of a good increases, its marginal utility decreases.

All ϶ᴛᴏ special cases of the concept of marginal values ​​(marginal analysis, marginal theory, marginalism) It is widely used in economic theory and practice and is based on the constant correlation of produced goods (wheat) or already existing goods (drinking water) with the costs of their production or their availability (rarity) Do not forget that the most important idea of ​​the concept is essentially that at a certain stage, the costs of producing a good (production costs) begin to grow faster than the production of the ϶ᴛᴏth good itself. Another important idea of ​​the concept is this: the more abundant the good, the less it is valued. As Marshall narrated, “the more a person has, the less, other things being equal (i.e., with equal purchasing power of money and with an equal amount of money at his disposal), there will be a price that he is willing to pay for a small additional amount of it, or, in other words, his marginal demand price for it is reduced.

"Cited in: Marshall A. Principles economics/ Per. from English. In 3 vols. M. 1993. T. 1. S. 158.

In essence, the ϶ᴛᴏ formulation of the principle of diminishing marginal utility (see 6.1)

Economic efficiency

The concept of economic efficiency

Economic efficiency- ϶ᴛᴏ obtaining the maximum possible benefits from the available resources. It is worth saying that for ϶ᴛᴏ it is necessary to constantly correlate benefits (benefits) and costs, or, in other words, behave rationally. Rational behavior lies in the fact that the producer and consumer of goods strive for the highest efficiency and, for this purpose, maximize benefits and minimize costs.

If we turn to the production possibilities curve (see Fig. 2.1), then with the maximum possible efficient production of the point A, B, C, D, E, reflecting the possible options for the production of goods, should lie on the surface of the curve, i.e. as if on the verge, the limit of production possibilities. If one or another point lies to the left of the curve, then ϶ᴛᴏ means incomplete use of production capabilities (economic resources), and if to the right - excess of the country's production capabilities, i.e. the unreality of the production of goods in such volumes. It can be concluded that “efficiency takes place when society cannot increase the output of one good without decreasing the output of another good at ϶ᴛᴏm. Efficient economy lies on the edge of production possibilities. 2

Cit. by: Samuelson P.A., Nordhaus V.D. Economy. Ed. 15th / Per. from English. M., 1997. S. 55.

Pareto efficiency (Pareto optimum)

In essence, the conclusion drawn follows from the formulation of economic efficiency, which was proposed by the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923). cannot improve the first state without worsening the position of at least one of the market participants. This definition of efficiency is often called Pareto optimum, Pareto optimality, Pareto-optimal wealth. It is used not only in economics, but also in other sciences, incl. in mathematics.

Measuring the efficiency of production and consumption of goods

When calculating the efficiency of production of goods, the costs of one or all factors are commensurate with the benefit (good) received. It is already clear from here that there can be many indicators of production efficiency. Yes, they measure performance labor (dividing the cost of all manufactured products by the number of employees or by the cost of labor costs), material consumption(dividing the cost of consumed natural resources, including those that have undergone primary processing - raw materials, fuel and energy, materials and semi-finished products, by the cost of manufactured products), capital intensity(dividing the cost of capital employed by the value of output produced) or return on capital(inverse indicator obtained by dividing the cost of goods produced by the cost of capital used) If the cost of goods produced is measured with the cost of all factors used, then they speak of profitability. Material published on http: // site

When calculating the efficiency of the acquisition and consumption of goods, the consumer usually proceeds from their opportunity cost, i.e. from the cost of those goods, from which he has to give up when receiving the desired good. It is clear that for different consumers this opportunity cost is different, since their tastes are not the same. At the same time, for most goods in society there is a generally recognized, established opportunity cost.

Efficiency at the micro and macro level

Approaches to measuring efficiency at the micro- and macroeconomic levels differ.

The firm considers only those costs that it incurred in the production of the good, and the buyer usually correlates the good he buys with the market value of those goods, from which he has to give up in order to get the desired good. At the same time, at ϶ᴛᴏm, both do not take into account those costs that are borne by the whole society, but those costs are not always included in the costs of the company for the production of goods and ϲᴏᴏᴛʙᴇᴛϲᴛʙ specifically in its market value. If, for example, the state provides a producer with a subsidy from its budget for the manufacture of cheap goods for children and the elderly, then it underestimates the value of its costs (production costs) for the producer, and the value of the opportunity cost for the consumer. As a result, the production and consumption of these goods will be more efficient for them than in the absence of a subsidy.

At the same time, in this case, the entire society bears the costs in the form of a subsidy provided from the state budget, which is financed by taxes collected from the whole society. Thus, if we take into account these costs, then the efficiency at the macroeconomic level (the so-called national economic efficiency) will be lower than at the microeconomic level (firm efficiency)

Moreover, at the microeconomic level, other costs are not always taken into account when calculating efficiency. Thus, a firm usually does not include the cost of those resources owned by it (for example, land plot, patents for its own inventions), for the use of which it does not pay anyone (see 10.1)

Division of labor, specialization and exchange

Adam Smith begins his famous work An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776): a consequence of the division of labour.

"Quoted from: Anthology of economic classics. In 2 vols. M., 1991. T. 1. S. 83.

Smith further shows in the example of pin making that one worker produces no more than 20 pins a day if he makes them himself from start to finish, while ten workers in a pin manufactory, dividing the individual pin-making operations among themselves, produce over 48,000 pins. per day, i.e. over 4,800 pins per worker.

The concepts of division of labor and specialization

The division of production between different jobs, enterprises and their divisions, industries, regions of the country, as well as between countries is called division labor. Accordingly, there are professional, inter-company and intra-factory, inter-industry, inter-regional and international division of labor. There is also a division of labor, detailed and node-by-node, i.e. production of a product that is not finished to the end, but its elements.

In the course of the division of labor, workers, enterprises and their subdivisions, industries, regions, countries are oriented towards the production of a limited range of products. Based on the division of pruritus, the orientation of manufacturers towards the manufacture of individual products and their elements is called specialization.

Specialization gives the manufacturer many advantages. First of all, by specializing in the production of a particular product, the manufacturer has the opportunity to most effectively use the economic resources available to him or available to him. Thus, Russia's specialization in world trade in the export of raw materials, fuel and energy, materials and semi-finished products is largely due to the fact that it allows us to use the huge mineral resources available to our country. Secondly, specialization in the production of a limited set of products allows the manufacturer to effectively use his ability to produce them (as in the example with pins)

Exchange

If each participant in economic life specializes in the production of a limited range of products, then all other benefits that he needs as a producer and consumer must be received from outside. It is worth saying that for ϶ᴛᴏ he exchanges the goods at his disposal (production resources and consumer goods) for those goods that he needs. In economic life, the exchange of goods usually takes the form of trade between people, firms, regions, countries.

conclusions

1. Economic life is based on the need to meet people's needs for various economic benefits. The vast majority of these needs are satisfied through the production of goods. In a market economy, where these goods are bought and sold, they are called goods and services.

2. The law of the rise of needs means that needs grow faster than the production of goods. This is due to the fact that economic needs are unlimited, and the production of economic goods is limited due to the limited economic resources.

3. Economic resources are understood as all types of resources used in the process of production of goods and services. They include natural and labor resources, capital (both real and monetary), entrepreneurial abilities, and knowledge. Infinity of needs and limited resources form the axis around which economic life revolves, and the core of economics as a science.

4. Resources are intertwined, mobile and, most importantly, interchangeable (alternative), although not completely. Therefore, an entrepreneur (organizer of production), in conditions of limited resources, is constantly looking for the most rational combination of them, using interchangeability. In a market economy, each of the economic resources is a large resource market.

5. On the basis of economic resources, the production of economic goods is carried out. With limited (rare) resources, one has to choose what goods to produce and what kind of production possibilities there are. When ϶ᴛᴏm, the concept of alternative (imputed) cost (costs) is used, which means that which has to be abandoned in order to produce the desired good.

6. The increase in opportunity costs as each additional unit of output is produced will be the essence of the law of increasing opportunity costs. Closely related to it is the law of diminishing returns, which means that the increase in output becomes smaller as new units of economic resource are added in combination with the same number of others. economic resources.

7. Economic theory and practice widely use the concept of marginal (marginal) values, by which they understand the increase in one value caused by the increase in another value per unit (provided that all other values ​​remain unchanged) They talk about marginal costs, marginal income, marginal utility. The concept of limit values ​​is based primarily on two ideas. First of all, at a certain stage, the costs of producing a good (production costs) begin to grow faster than the production of the ϶ᴛᴏth good itself. Secondly, the more abundant the good, the less it is valued.

8. Economic efficiency - ϶ᴛᴏ obtaining the maximum possible benefits from available resources. It is worth saying that for ϶ᴛᴏ it is necessary to constantly correlate benefits (benefits) and costs (costs), or, in other words, behave rationally. Rational behavior lies in the fact that the producer and consumer of goods strive for the highest efficiency and, for this purpose, maximize benefits and minimize costs. Efficiency is calculated in various ways.

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

Note that the terms and concepts
economic benefits
Economic Needs
Goods and services (goods)
Essential Products
Engel's Law
Economic resources
Interchangeability (alternativeness) of economic resources
Production Capabilities
Alternative (imputed) cost (costs)
Law of Increasing Opportunity Cost
Law of diminishing returns
Economic efficiency
Pareto efficiency (Pareto optimum)
Division of labor
Specialization

Questions for self-examination

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

2. List the economic resources known to you.

3. What are the consequences of the combination of limitless needs and limited resources?

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

5. Explain what the production possibilities curve shows?

6. What are the similarities and differences between the law of increasing opportunity costs and the law of diminishing returns?

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

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

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

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

Economic Needs - it is a lack of something or a need for something to support the life and development of an individual, groups of people, firms and society as a whole. Economic needs are the motives or the driving force behind the activation of human labor activity. Needs are divided into primary and secondary. The primary needs of a person include food, clothing, housing; they can be replaced with one another. Secondary - these are the needs of a spiritual nature, which can be replaced by each other. For example, watching TV, movies, reading books, newspapers, etc. According to the purpose, needs can be divided into personal and industrial.

Personal needs include all primary and secondary needs. Production needs are the society's need for resources to produce the same primary and secondary needs.

American sociologist Maslow proposed a special "pyramid of needs", which describes all possible types of needs. (Fig. 2.1.)

Rice. 2.1. Classification of human needs according to A. Maslow

Only when the needs are realized does a person have a motivation to work, which is understood as an incentive to work to achieve personal or collective goals. In this case, the needs turn into another form - economic interest.

Economic interest – these are objective motives economic activity associated with the desire of people to meet the growing material and spiritual needs. Economic interest is the main driving force behind the progress of the entire economy. They can be personal, collective and public. And the ways of realizing motivation or putting it into practice is called incentive, which is divided into material and moral.

Social needs are endless in time, in quantitative and qualitative terms. As the history of civilization shows, in the process of satisfying needs, more and more new needs are formed. The ever-increasing needs are called economic law elevation of needs.

economic benefits. Means that satisfy needs are called goods. Some of them are available in almost unlimited quantities (for example, air), others are in limited quantities. The latter are called economic goods. They consist of various things and services.

A. Marshall defines the good as "a desirable thing that satisfies a human need." J. B. Say defines the good as "the means we have to meet our needs."

The classification of goods, as well as needs, is characterized by great diversity.

First of all, according to the terms of use, economic benefits are divided into long-term and one-time, by purpose - direct and indirect.

The classification of economic goods will be incomplete if they are not divided into tangible and intangible ones. Material goods are understood as means that satisfy the physical needs of a person.

According to neoclassical views, the cost (value) of economic goods depends on their rarity and on the intensity of needs.

To obtain economic benefits, you need the necessary funds - resources.

Economic resources - they are primary sources, factors used to produce goods. Modern economic science refers to the resources of land, labor, capital and entrepreneurial ability. In the context of the development of the scientific and technological revolution, the factor of production becomes - information, intellectual costs and has a cost.

The concept of "land" includes all natural resources: agricultural land, forests, mineral deposits, water resources of rivers, seas and oceans.

The resource "capital" implies a source of income invested in a business in the form of means of production.

« Work" is a very broad term that refers to the qualifications, educational level, physical and other abilities that can be used in the production of goods and services.

"Entrepreneurial ability" is a set of abilities and skills that allow him to find a rational combination of all other resources for the production and sale of goods and services. A talented entrepreneur makes intelligent and consistent decisions, uses technical innovations. If necessary, he takes a justified risk.

All economic resources (from a quantitative point of view) have one common property - rarity and limitation. The scarcity of resources is relative. This means that at achieved level development of the economy, available resources are usually less than necessary to meet all needs. Naturally, with the development social production limited resources are overcome, but with some delay in time. Therefore, for each this moment there is always a shortage of economic resources. From this we can conclude that the simultaneous and complete satisfaction of all the needs of society is fundamentally impossible. The consequence of limited resources is the desire for their rational use and the use of interchangeability and complementarity of economic benefits.

Resources such as land, labor and capital are interchangeable within certain limits, which is expressed in the production function, which in general view looks like that:

Q = f (F, F2, ……Fn),

(2.1)

where Q- volume of production;

f– functional dependence;

F, F2,…..Fn- used resources.

Along with the concept of "resources", economics operates with the concept of "factors of production".

Factors of production - these are functioning, producing, actually involved in production resources.

2.2 Social production: stages, efficiency and production possibilities

public production. Using the concepts of "need", "good" and "resources", we can define the category of "social production".

Production is the expedient activity of people aimed at satisfying their needs. Nature does not present the necessary benefits to man in finished form, they must be produce.

In the process of production, three main factors interact - labor, capital, land. The end result of production is the creation of tangible and intangible goods and services. In accordance with this, social production consists of material and non-material production (Fig. 2.2.).

Rice. 2.2. Scheme of the structure of social production

material production includes sectors for the production of material goods and the provision of material services. In the sectors of non-material production, special non-material benefits (spiritual values) are created, as well as non-material services are provided (health care, education, scientific consulting, etc.).

The term "production" without the concept of "social" is not specific enough. The fact is that the production process is carried out not by isolated economic entities, but in society - together with other entities, in the system of social division of labor. As a result of social production, public goods are created, which take the form of a product. A product, unlike a good, has a price signal, but it is not yet a commodity. The product becomes a commodity in the medium of exchange. Good → product → product (good).

The social product in its movement goes through a number of interrelated stages: production, distribution, exchange and consumption (Fig. 2.3.)

Production - the starting point at which the product is created and from which its movement begins.

The inequality of individuals in participation in production inevitably entails their inequality in the distribution and consumption of products.

Rice. 2.3. Scheme of the stages of the movement of a social product

Distribution of public products - involves not only the distribution of goods and services, but also resources and labor. AT market system distribution is carried out under the influence of the price mechanism, and not at the direction of anyone.

One of the cardinal questions of the economic theory "for whom to produce" is related to the distribution production goods. Distribution can be seen both in terms of efficiency and in terms of social justice. Distribution effectively in the case when the quantity of goods satisfies more fully the needs of one individual without prejudice to the needs of another person. (Pareto - efficiency).

Exchange mediates the link between production and distribution. It is conditioned by the socialization and distribution of labor, and takes place in production itself in the form of an exchange of activities between employees of a firm, industry, region, etc.

Consumption, according to A. Marshall, this is a kind of negative production, since in the process of consumption there is a decrease or destruction of the usefulness of the product. However, one cannot understand consumption in the literal sense as the destruction of utility. The fact is that consumption itself is divided into two types: personal and industrial.

The first type - personal consumption - is carried out outside of production and does not concern it (eating, drinking, wearing clothes, reading, etc.). This is indeed the destruction of utility, and it is of an individual nature, if we do not consider totalitarian regimes, in which power structures have always sought to minimize individual acts and decisions. However, there are goods and services that, by their very nature, involve collective consumption: football matches, theatrical performances, movies, roads, and so on.

Productive consumption involves the use of indirect goods or means of production intended for productive use, which create new goods.

All elements of the stages: production, distribution, exchange and consumption function independently and at the same time correlate with each other as integral parts of each individual stage, while they are inextricably linked. For example, there is no production without exchange, there is no exchange without production or consumption without exchange, there is no exchange without consumption.

To analyze the development of social production in economic science, the category of "efficiency" is used.

In general terms, efficiency can be defined as the ratio between the result and the costs ( ). Therefore, efficiency is a relative value, not an absolute one. In other words, the lower the cost and the greater the result, the higher the efficiency.

Efficiency can be a separate economic unit (enterprise, firm, household).

Efficiency is expressed both in natural and in monetary units. Scorecards are needed to measure performance. The most important of these is the productivity of social labor (PT).

where n is the product in physical or monetary terms;

T - labor costs in certain units.

Choice production possibilities. The consequence of limited resources is competition between alternative purposes of their use. Almost all resources can be used to satisfy a wide variety of needs, for example, oil can be used as a raw material for fuel, as a currency from its export proceeds, as a raw material for the chemical industry, etc. In other words, society, like an individual, is always faced with the task of choosing directions and ways to use limited resources for various competing purposes. The method of solving this problem is one of the subjects of study of economic theory.

Limited resources dictate the need for choice maximum number economic benefits with full use of available resources. In solving these problems, economists widely use various kinds of models. For example, P. Samuelson cites the choice of the production of guns and butter, which is an alternative to military and civilian production.

This method shows the impossibility of producing many guns and oil at the same time with limited resources. Using this simplest model, one of the main questions of economic science can be formulated: “what, how and how much to produce” (Fig. 2.4.)

Rice. 2.4. Production possibilities graph

Economic agents are subjects of economic relations involved in the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of economic goods. The main economic agents are individuals, households (families), firms (enterprises), the state and its subdivisions. In turn, firms can act as individual enterprises, partnerships and corporations.

Economic agents communicate with each other through the movement of economic goods along the chain: production, distribution, exchange, consumption, which is a kind of circulation.

The economic cycle this is the movement of economic goods, accompanied by a counter flow of monetary income and expenses of agents.

Let us abstractly imagine that the main subjects of the economy are households, firms and the state. Households present demand for consumer goods and services, and at the same time act as suppliers of such economic resources as labor, land and capital. And firms demand (demand) for all resources and at the same time offer goods and services to households.

In the circuit shown in Fig. 2.7., the supply and demand flows are concretized, being replaced by their resources, income, expenses, goods and services.

In any economic system, the household acts as the main supplier of resources, consumer of goods and services, and a link in the formation of human capital (Fig. 2.5.)

Rice. 2.5. The role of the household in the circulation of goods

Human capital - it is the capital embodied in people in the form of the ability to work, qualifications, knowledge and experience. By its nature, it is compared with physical capital, since its formation requires the expenditure of funds and money to the detriment of current consumption, and also serves as a source of increasing labor productivity and earnings in the future. Requires "depreciation expenses" in the form of rest, health improvement and updating of qualifications. However human capital unlike the physical, the riskier and investment period is much longer. If the investment period of physical capital reaches up to 5 years, then such a form is invested in a person, as education can last more than 20 years.

Household demand is expressed in terms of expenditure, which is paid in monetary form in the markets for goods and services. Household spending is the firm's revenue from the sale of these goods and services. The purchase of resources needed by firms constitutes, in monetary terms, costs - the costs of firms. In turn, households, supplying firms necessary resources(capital, labor, land), in return receive income in cash (salary, rent, interest).

Rice. 2.6. Scheme of the simplest models of the circulation of goods. External arrows - demand in cash, internal arrows - in kind

Households and firms pay taxes to the state, in turn they receive transfer payments and subsidies from the state, respectively. In addition, the state is a major customer of raw materials, goods and services for the maintenance of the army, healthcare, education and social protection population.

The ultimate goal of any economic system is to meet the needs of society and individuals.

Essence and types of human needs.

The need is the need for something necessary for the maintenance of life, the development of the individual and society as a whole.

Man seeks real opportunities satisfy the needs, and in the absence of such opportunities - suppresses or replaces this need with another, closest to it. This cannot be done only with needs directly related to life support.

The entire history of the economy can be viewed as the history of the formation of needs. There are several levels of needs:

Physiological needs (food, water, clothing, shelter, reproduction);

Security needs (protection from external enemies and criminals, help in case of illness, protection from poverty);

Needs for social contacts (communication with people who have the same interests; in friendship and love);

Needs for respect (respect from other people, self-respect, in acquiring a certain social position);

The need for self-development (to improve all the capabilities and abilities of a person).

The listed forms of human needs can be visually depicted in the form of a pyramid (Fig. 4.1).

Fig.4.1. Pyramid of needs of modern man

Types of needs. Human needs are very diverse and can be classified according to various criteria:

According to the subjects (bearers of needs), individual, group, institutional and public are distinguished;

According to the object (subject to which they are directed), people's requests are divided into material, spiritual, ethical (related to morality) and aesthetic (related to art);

According to the areas of activity, the needs of labor, communication, recreation (rest, restoration of working capacity) and economic ones are distinguished.

Economists study material needs, i.e. the desire of consumers to acquire and use goods and services that give them pleasure or satisfaction.

An individual may need food, shelter, education, recreation, and so on. Private enterprises want factory buildings, machines, trucks, warehouses, communications systems, and everything else that allows them to achieve their production goals. The government reflects the social needs of the citizens of the country or pursues its own goals by building highways, schools, hospitals, stockpiling military equipment and weapons. Non-Profit Organizations, representing the collective interests of the population, united on various grounds (religion, party membership, hobbies, etc.), create their own infrastructure: office space, utensils and inventory, vehicles, etc.).

The law of exaltation of needs (infinity of needs).

In the process of meeting needs, new needs are formed in quantitative and qualitative terms, their structure changes, priorities shift, and interchangeability develops. This happens as a result of the introduction of new products and under the influence of extensive advertising and vigorous sales promotion.

It can be said that at any given moment the individuals and institutions that make up society experience many unsatisfied material needs. It has been empirically established that every ten years the number of species consumer goods and services more than doubled. The law of the rise of needs expresses the objective (independent of the will and desire of people) necessity for the growth and improvement of human needs with the development of production and culture.

Taken together, material needs are in a practical sense insatiable or limitless. This means that material needs cannot be fully satisfied.

The rise of needs does not consist in a simple proportional growth of all their kinds. Fastest to saturate and have certain limit the development of lower order needs. On the contrary, the demands of a higher order - social and intellectual - are essentially unlimited.

In the dynamics of needs, three main groups of goods are distinguished:

a) food products;

b) industrial products included in the usual set of consumer (clothes, shoes, etc.);

c) high-quality durable goods (furniture, televisions, motorcycles, cars, etc.).

E. Engel's law establishes a pattern between cash income population and consumption patterns. The higher the standard of living of people, the lower their costs for the purchase of food and more for industrial consumer goods. As prosperity continues to rise, purchases of high-quality durable goods increase.

Essence, usefulness, economic value of the good.

Goods and their classifications.

The means by which needs are satisfied are called goods.

This means that goods are carriers of a property called utility. The producers and consumers of material goods identify and evaluate the useful properties of things in different ways.

Manufacturers of products first of all use an objective assessment of their material properties, allowing them to obtain the desired utility. So, in iron ore, the amount of extractable iron and other components contained in it is determined, in milk - the presence of a certain amount of fat, protein, milk sugar, vitamins, etc. If the amount of useful substances in products increases, then this improves their quality, and thereby increases the usefulness of these products.

Consumers quite often adhere to subjective assessments of the benefits of material goods, neglecting their objective qualities. They look at natural products in terms of personal needs, tastes and preferences. Subjectively assessed utility largely depends on the rarity of the goods themselves and on the volume of their consumption.

Utility is anything that satisfies any real need.

The things we desire, or goods, are divided into tangible and intangible.

Material goods consist of useful material things and of all rights to possession, use and economic realization of material things. So, they include natural gifts of nature, products of agriculture, industry, securities, patent and copyright, etc. Finally, the opportunity to travel, visit museums, engage in art and sports, etc. represent the embodiment of material comforts.

The intangible benefits of a person fall into two groups. One includes his own qualities and abilities for action and enjoyment, such as business ability, professional skill, or the ability to enjoy reading and music. All these blessings are in himself and are called internal. The second group includes goods called external. They cover relationships that are beneficial (useful) both for the person himself and for the people around him. For example, business connections, reputation, possession of information, civil privileges and rights.

Benefits can be transferable or non-transferable. The first includes material goods, which are subject to property rights. The latter include intangible benefits (i.e., internal and external benefits of a person), as well as material benefits consumed by the whole society: favorable climatic conditions, daylight, air, the possibility of using public property.

Some benefits are available to society in unlimited quantities (for example, air), are not appropriated by anyone and are delivered by nature without any effort. In this case, they are called free, or non-economic goods. Other benefits exist in limited quantities, they have the right to private or state property, in which case they are called economic goods.

Economic cycle.

Goods that are external to a person, which, on the one hand, required efforts in order for them to come into being, and on the other hand, have the ability to satisfy his needs, are called wealth. The economy constantly produces two main kinds of wealth: commodities and means of production.

The degree of development of the economy of each country is judged by the indicators of production of products of the first kind - by the volume, variety and quality of consumer goods and by the degree to which residents are provided with them. But economic development it is impossible without the production of wealth of the second kind - the means of production (cotton, oil, metal, wood, machine tools, etc.).

All created material goods sooner or later disappear when they are used, consumed. Because of this, they need to be reproduced - to continuously renew the process of creating new commodities and means of production to replace the retired ones. Therefore, public wealth moves in a circle (Fig. 4.2).

Rice. 4.2. Economic cycle

Production is the initial phase of the economic cycle - it is a creative process of manufacturing useful products. Workers adapt the substance and forces of nature to meet human needs (for example, furniture is made from wood). Manufacturing is fundamental to the entire economy. If a product is not created, then, naturally, there is nothing to distribute, exchange and consume.

Distribution is such a phase of the cycle where quantitative relationships are established between the goods produced and the types of human needs. To create the whole variety of useful things, a division of labor is required, which means that it is necessary to place workers and tools for unequal types and types of economic activity.

In the final analysis, the income that is generated as a result of the expenditure of labor and means of production is subject to distribution. In this regard, the share of each person in the created wealth is revealed. It depends, on the one hand, on the amount of goods produced, and on the other hand, on the method of distribution of products. If distribution does not arouse people's material interest in the results of labor, then this has a negative effect on the output of products.

Exchange is an important form of economic connection between people. Because the division of labor forces workers to improve their abilities in different directions, it becomes necessary to exchange abilities and activities in order to obtain a common economic result. The benefits received from the distribution often cannot be spent for personal consumption if people need completely different things. Then there is an exchange of products of labor.

consumption is beneficial use material wealth. As a result of consumption, goods either disappear or lose their utility. If the need for goods is not satisfied, it is required to produce them, and the movement along the economic circle resumes.

Natural and commodity system management.

Depending on the economic system, the sequence of phases of the economic cycle may change. History knows two main types of production: natural and commodity.

Natural production is a kind of production in which people create products to satisfy their own needs.

For System natural production the following features are characteristic, expressing the essence of the economic relations inherent in it.

First, subsistence farming is a closed system of organizational and economic relations. The society in which it dominates consists of a mass of economic units (families, communities, estates) disunited and economically isolated from each other. Each unit relies on its own production resources and provides itself with everything necessary for life. It performs all types of economic work, starting from the extraction of various types of raw materials and ending with their final preparation for consumption.

Secondly, natural production is characterized by manual universal labor, which excludes its division into types: each person performs all the main work. Its material base is the simplest equipment (hoe, shovels, rakes, etc.) and handicraft tools. Naturally, under such conditions, labor activity is unproductive, output cannot increase in any significant way. This happens, for example, in a garden plot, where family members usually do not share different types agricultural work.

Thirdly, the system of subsistence farming is characterized by direct economic ties between production and consumption. It develops according to the formula: "production - distribution - consumption". That is, the created products are distributed among all participants in production and, bypassing its exchange, go to personal and industrial consumption. This direct link ensures the sustainability of subsistence farming.

Subsistence farming is historically the first type economic organization society.

Commodity production is a type of economic organization in which useful products are created for their sale on the market. The commodity economy has the following main features.

First, this economy is an open system of organizational and economic relations. Here, workers create useful products not for their own consumption, but for selling them to other people. The entire flow of new things goes beyond each production unit and rushes to the market to meet the demand of buyers.

Secondly, the production of goods is based on the division of labor. Its development depends on how deepening the specialization (separation) of workers, enterprises in the output certain types products or parts of complex products. Such a phenomenon is objectively caused by technical progress, and the latter, in turn, receives a greater impetus from the division of labor.

Thirdly, the commodity economy is characterized by indirect links (indirect) between production and consumption. They develop according to the formula "production - distribution - exchange - consumption". Manufactured products first enter the market for exchange for other products (or for money) and only then fall into the sphere of productive and personal consumption. The market confirms or does not confirm the need to manufacture these products for sale.

Through the exchange are established economic relations type:

This means that a commodity economy is a system of organizational and economic relations, thanks to which an increasing variety of products is created, destined for exchange on the market for other products.

Depending on the degree of development of organizational and economic relations and property relations, two types of commodity production are formed: a simple commodity economy of peasants and artisans, who use their labor and simple tools in the manufacture of products, and a developed commodity economy, in which all products are converted into commodities, objects. buying and selling also becomes labor.

At the present stage of production, under the influence of the scientific and technological revolution, development social infrastructure and participation of the state in the economy, the non-commodity sector emerged. It included the production of goods, in the promotion of which the market does not participate in the sphere of consumption (these are fundamental scientific research, free types of education, the main products of the military-industrial complex, etc.)

Goods as a specific form of economic good.

Two product properties. The specifics of a service as a commodity.

Any product of natural production, i.e. a natural product has the only property - the ability to satisfy some needs of people, even those that are detrimental to health (for example, the need for alcohol and cigarettes).

In subsistence farming, the range of useful products created for domestic consumption is very limited. In commodity production based on the social division of labor, not only does the quantity and variety of products produced increase sharply, but their properties also change.

A commodity, like a natural product, has utility or use value.

To answer this question, the following issues need to be considered.

1. Useful things, or goods used for consumption, are divided into economic and non-economic. Obviously, that which requires appropriate compensation is recognized as a commodity, for example, for the labor spent on the production of a thing or its delivery, i.e. economic benefit. A free product of nature (air, climate, water in a river), or a non-economic good, cannot be recognized as a commodity.

2. Economic benefits are created for oneself or for other people. A commodity will be something that is produced for others for the purpose of an equivalent exchange, i.e. public utility. Those things that people get for free, for example, as a gift, are not goods.

A commodity is a social utility created by labor intended for an equivalent exchange for another commodity.

It follows from this definition that a commodity, when exchanged for an equivalent product, receives an exchange value, the ability to exchange for other useful things in certain proportions (ratios) of exchange.

For example, in the market it is possible to equate to each other (conditional figures): 10 m of fabric, 1 table, 40 kg of meat, etc. Such exchange operations can be represented in algebraic form:

NA= NB= NC= ...,

where A, B, C are useful things; NA,NB,NC- the number of things, respectively A, B, C, or the quantitative proportions of the exchange.

The equivalence sign here establishes the equality of the utilities of goods A, B, C. It is obvious: completely heterogeneous things enter into an equivalent exchange. After all, the market does not exchange any particular utility for the same thing. Benefits equated to each other are also not comparable in quantitative terms: fabrics, as you know, are measured in m 2, tables - in pieces, meat - in kg, etc. But the general content of exchange equality is the same value embodied in all commodities.

Thus, a product has two properties: utility and cost.

When talking about goods, they usually talk about useful things. But services, along with products, also satisfy our needs (car repair, hair cutting, legal advice, etc.). Many products are bought for the sake of services: a car, a washing machine, etc. Therefore, we can conclude that services, like things, have utility.

When providing services, not only labor with certain professional skills and education is spent, but also products in the form of consumables, tools, parts, etc. Therefore, when a service enters the exchange phase in the economic cycle, it is natural to assume that the costs will be reimbursed in the equivalent utility of the commodity being exchanged. Otherwise, the exchange will not take place, and this phase will not be completed. This means that services, like things, have an exchange value.

From what has been said, it follows that a service, having utility and value, is a commodity as well as any other product with the same properties.

Money as a developed form of commodity-money relations.

In addition to natural forms (commodities, means of production), the wealth of society exists in a completely different form. At the beginning of the development of a commodity economy (3 - 5 thousand years ago), a third kind of wealth appeared - money. Modern economy is a single process wealth in its natural forms: natural and monetary. Therefore, it is reliable to judge the development National economy is possible only when comparing natural and cost statistical indicators.

Money is the embodiment and sign of the value of goods, a means of circulation (purchase and sale of material goods). With their help, commodity exchange was unusually facilitated and accelerated, which favorably affected the expansion of the production of all useful things.

The earliest form of exchanging one product of labor for another was barter, or the direct exchange of one thing for another, one service for another. Despite the simplicity of such an exchange, barter has many disadvantages. The most important of these is that you need to find a person who has what you need and wants what you have. In addition, the coincidence of interests must occur both in time and in the quantity and quality of goods, which requires considerable effort, time, cost and is often impossible.

In a commodity-money exchange, each exchange partner sets his own prices in relation to only one commodity, which is used as money. A simple exchange of goods carried out according to the formula:

T 1 > T 2

with the advent of money was replaced by circulation according to the formula:

T 1 > D > T 2,

where T 1 and T 2 - different exchanged goods, D - money. Money has become an irreplaceable and influential intermediary in the exchange of one good for another.

Essence and functions of money.

Chet whom, recognized by all economists, there is no definition of the essence of money. In the Marxist labor theory of value: money is a special, socially recognized commodity - a universal equivalent. Most economists, however, deduce the essence of money from the functions it performs and recognize that everything that people recognize as money and performs its functions can be money.

Among modern economists, there are several opinions about the number and interpretation of the functions of money, but three main ones are unanimously recognized: a medium of circulation, a means of preserving wealth (accumulation), and a measure of value.

A measure of value - money allows you to express the cost of goods (services) in terms known to each participant in the exchange of goods: national monetary units. The value of a thing expressed in money is its price. To determine the price of products, money itself is not required, since the seller of the goods sets its price mentally (ideally expresses the value in money).

Means of circulation - money acts as an intermediary in the exchange of goods and services, due to which the individual, quantitative, temporal and spatial boundaries inherent in barter are overcome. In addition, as noted above, distribution costs are also reduced. This function is performed by real money.

Monetary units are used as a price scale to measure the cost of individual goods and services, thereby allowing you to navigate for making rational decisions.

A store of value (store of value) is the ability of money to use the corresponding value of what has been sold today for a future purchase. If the seller received money for his goods, but did not immediately spend it on the purchase of the things he needed, then the circulation process is interrupted. Then money begins to fulfill the function of a store of value: it accumulates as a representative of wealth in general.

This function of money is a consequence of the fact that they can always be used as payment and have a fixed nominal value. The owner of money can at any time perform any financial liability. However, if nominal cost money is fixed, then their real value ( purchasing power) may vary depending on the prices of goods and services. As prices rise, the real value of money falls sharply, and the preservation of wealth in the form of money loses its economic meaning. The pursuit of less liquid or generally illiquid, but real values ​​begins: buying up land plots, real estate, works of art, etc.

In addition to the above functions, K. Marx also names the following: a means of payment, world money, etc.

The evolution of money.

Commodity money (cattle, furs, tobacco, fish) appeared in every country and in large economic regions in local markets as general equivalents when the production and exchange of goods became regular. These commodities, which, by virtue of their recognized utility, had a steady daily demand and a wide circulation, and initially found themselves in the position of money.

However, the growing trade could not take into account various local equivalents. It turned out that although a variety of goods can be money, the material for them must meet the following requirements: wear resistance, portability, stability, uniformity, divisibility, recognition, etc.

Precious metals began to be used in the form of money, tk. met all these requirements. Initially, gold or silver performed the function of a medium of circulation in bullion. In order not to weigh the ingots in each act of exchange, they began to give them a standard shape and put an appropriate stamp on them. So money took the form of a coin.

Coins during circulation are gradually erased, losing weight, however, they are accepted on the market as full-fledged money. Passing from hand to hand from buyers to sellers, money fleetingly performs the function of a medium of exchange. This led to the fact that the state began to replace a full-fledged coin with minted defective silver and copper signs. This practice further led to the issuance of purely nominal denominations of value - paper money as substitutes for metal coins.

The fact that it is now possible to purchase any commodity with paper money and even gold items can be given such an explanation. The widest distribution credit relations in industrial developed countries led to the fact that now in the form of money they act, in fact, debentures government, banks and savings institutions. In other words, money can be conditionally called evidence of the "right to receive goods."

There are three main types credit money: bill, banknote and check. These debt obligations have the force of legal tender. They are issued in two forms: cash and money in the accounts of commercial banks and other institutions at the central bank.

A promissory note is an unconditional obligation to pay a certain amount of money set time. It gives its owner an indisputable right to demand from the debtor the payment of the specified amount upon the expiration of the term. The bill during the period of its validity can be used as a means of circulation of cash. In this regard, he received the name of full-fledged money. The bill was historically the first type of credit money.

Banknotes, or paper money, express the obligation of the state power and are endowed by the state with a forced exchange rate. classical banknote has the following main features: firstly, it is produced central bank instead of commercial bills and, secondly, the banknote can be exchanged for gold on demand. She had a dual security - bills (commodity) and gold (gold reserves of the central bank). This type of credit money appeared at the end of the 17th century.

Initially, the banknote had a metal base, i.e. existed free exchange of banknotes for gold or silver. Under these conditions, a stable purchasing power of paper money was ensured.

During periods economic crises in the country, on the one hand, the need for means of payment increased sharply, on the other hand, there was an outflow of gold and other precious metals abroad, the curtailment of credit, and consequently, the reduction in the accounting of bills and, as a result, the deficit of means of payment increased, and the crisis deepened. In this regard, the exchange of credit money for metal began to stop during the period of wars and other violations of a stable economic life.

Emission modern banknotes not related to gold. She's in control Central Bank. The possible depreciation of paper money is associated not only with an increase in prices for goods and services, but also with a possible change in state power, undermining public confidence in the state.

Although commercial bill serves as the basis of the banknote, there are differences between them according to the type of debtor, guarantee and terms:

the debtor under the bill is a functioning entrepreneur - merchant or industrialist, under the banknote - the central bank;

banknotes have a public guarantee in the form of the resources of all entrepreneurs stored in the bank, therefore they act as public credit money with a special quality - universal negotiability. The bill has only a private guarantee, it is not a universal means of payment;

a banknote is a perpetual obligation. The circulation of a bill is limited by the term of its payment.

A check is a written order from the owner of a current account to a bank to pay in cash or transfer a certain amount of money to the current account of another person.

Thus, a check serves as a means of obtaining cash from a bank's current account, a means of circulation and payment for purchased goods, debt repayment, and non-cash payments. It appeared in the 14th century. in the form of a receipt of cashiers who charged interest from the depositor for keeping money.

The development of the circulation of checks caused a number of problems associated with their payment and the many signatures on checkbooks. Therefore, there has been a trend to replace checks with other means of using checking accounts, in particular credit cards.

A credit card is a nominal document issued by a bank or a trading company that certifies the identity of the owner of an account with a bank and gives him the right to purchase goods and services in retail no cash payment.

From the point of view of the settlement mechanism, bilateral and multilateral card systems are distinguished. Double-sided cards originated on the base bilateral agreements between settlement participants, where cardholders can use them to make purchases in closed networks controlled by the card issuer. Multilateral systems provide the opportunity to buy goods on credit from various merchants and service organizations that offer these cards as a means of payment.

The division of cards is determined by their functional characteristics: there are credit and debit cards. Credit cards associated with the opening credit line in the bank. They are used to make a current payment (credit card, shopping card, travel and entertainment card) and enable the owner to use credit when buying and receiving cash loans. Debit (prepaid) cards are also designed to receive cash or purchase goods. But the money is debited from the cardholder's bank account.

There are also differences in the way the bank is notified about payments made. When using a paper-based system, the holder puts his signature on the trading account or other document, which is an authorization to debit his account. Then this account is sent to the bank to transfer the appropriate amount to the merchant. AT electronic systems the cardholder communicates directly with the issuer through the terminal.

Electronic devices and communication systems used for translation Money and the implementation of credit and payment transactions through the transmission of electronic signals without the participation of paper carriers.

Electronic transfers have become widespread since the second half of the 70s. Compared to paper money, they have the following advantages:

increase the speed of transfer of payment instructions;

simplification of processing of bank correspondence;

reducing the cost of processing payment documentation.

Automatic guidance bank accounts(crediting and debiting of funds, transfers from one account to another, accrual of interest, control over the state of settlements, etc.) is carried out by electronic computing centers created in banks. Electronic banking services mainly related to interbank and interbranch settlements, prompt customer service (Client-Bank systems) and settlements using plastic cards. The electronic transfer of wages from the employer's account to the employee's account is widespread.

Electronic funds transfers quickly gained dominance, both domestically and internationally. financial markets where huge sums of money change hands every day. In consumer transactions, they are used less often, but their importance in this area is growing.

Increasing role electronic transfers, leads to the idea of ​​the emergence of an "economy without money", in which all transactions will be made using electronic transfers. However, money in the form of balance sheet deposits will continue to exist. But with the disappearance of cash and paper checks, money will become "invisible."

Tasks. Questions.
What is called a need?
How are needs classified?
Are the concepts of usefulness and usefulness the same?
What is called blessing?
List the phases of the economic cycle.
Name the main properties of the product.
List the functions of money.
Tasks. Tests.
1. A substance of nature is an economic good if: a) can be consumed without the production process; b) the process of its consumption is preceded by the process of its processing, i.e. human impact.
2. Subsistence economy is a form of economic organization in which: products are produced for exchange in the market; b) there is isolation of producers; c) products are produced for own consumption; d) communication between producers is direct; e) there is a specialization of producers in the production of a product.
3. With an objective approach, the essence of money as: a) money is the result of an agreement between people; b) a commodity that has become a universal equivalent as a result of historical development; c) an invention of mankind; d) money is what is used as money.

Needs- this is an expression of the need for something necessary to maintain life and develop the individual and society as a whole. It is the needs that motivate people to production, to economic activity.

Needs are formed under the influence of many factors. The needs are influenced by the biological nature of a person, his spiritual world, the socio-economic conditions of his life, scientific and technological progress, the natural and climatic environment, etc.

There are many options for grouping, classifying needs. Needs can be identified:

− primary(the need for means of subsistence that cannot be replaced by anything - food, clothing, housing) and secondary(choice needs - cars, entertainment, travel);

− material(in food) and spiritual(in reading books);

− personal(education) and public(defense of the country, environmental protection).

When characterizing needs and assigning them to a particular group, one must keep in mind the conditional (relative) nature of a particular grouping. The boundaries between the types of needs are rather unsteady.

For example, in highly developed countries, the need to be able to read and write is a primary need, while in backward countries it is a secondary need.

The classification of needs developed by the American scientist A. Maslow is widely known. In the system he proposed, all needs are presented in the form of a pyramid, at the base of which are physiological needs. The spiritual needs of a person rise above them (Fig. 3.1 A. Maslow's Pyramid of Needs).

According to A. Maslow, the first two lower groups of needs are the needs of the lower order, and until they are satisfied, the needs of the higher order are irrelevant (the three upper groups of needs).

As society develops, people's needs are constantly expanding and becoming more complex, while the share of spiritual and intellectual needs is increasing.

The increase in needs creates a constant incentive for productive work.

The needs of people are satisfied with the help of goods.

Good Everything that is useful to a person and satisfies his needs. Goods can have a material form ( material object) or act as a service. A service is an intangible good that has the form of an activity that is useful to people. Services cannot be accumulated because the processes of their creation and consumption coincide.

All the goods with which a person satisfies his needs are divided into limitless- gifts of nature and limited (economic), most of which are created during the manufacturing process.

economic benefits limited- it means that:

- not enough to satisfy all people's needs;

- the volume of goods can be increased only by the cost of factors of production;

Wealth has to be distributed in one way or another.

Economic benefits are divided into two large groups:

− consumer goods that directly meet the needs of people (food, clothing, housing, etc.);

− means of production- goods of a production nature that satisfy the needs of people indirectly (machines, machines, equipment, minerals).

Many economic goods are interconnected: they can either substitute for each other or complement each other. In this regard, there are:

− fungible goods(substitute goods) - goods that have the ability to satisfy needs at the expense of each other (oil - gas, margarine - butter, wood - brick, etc.) At the same time, interchangeability can be complete (absolute), when one good can completely replace other (ballpoint - capillary pen; sweets - sugar - jam, etc.), and relative, when goods can be equated to a greater or lesser extent (natural and artificial fabrics, roses and carnations, gasoline or fuel oil);

− complementary(complimentary) good- goods that satisfy the needs of people only in combination with each other (tape recorder and cassette, camera and film, car and gasoline, etc.). Complementarity can be rigid (absolute) and relative. In the first case, one good must correspond to a certain amount of another good (tape recorder - cassette), in the second - there is no such rigid certainty (coffee and sugar, shirt and tie).

Understanding the complementarity and interchangeability of goods is of great importance for analyzing the behavior of economic entities and pricing patterns in a market economy.