What is economic activity? Economic activities of people

Economic activity– this is any activity of economic entities aimed at obtaining economic benefits. Economic (economic) activity is aimed at ensuring the life of an individual and society.

Subjects of economic activity in market economy(mixed market economy) are: households, firms, state.

Household involves a group of people (or one person) jointly making decisions regarding the use of their resources. In the market economy model, the main function of households is consumption.

In this case, households are:

buyers and consumers of final goods produced by firms and the state;

owners of production resources.

Firm– an organization that uses resources to produce goods and services for the purpose of their subsequent sale on the market. In the market economy model, the main function of firms is production.

At the same time, companies:

acquire production resources on the factor market;

produce goods and services;

sell produced goods on the goods market.

The state includes all central (federal), regional (republic, territory, region, etc.) and local bodies providing legislative, executive and judicial activities.

In the market economy model, the main function of the state is to regulate economic activity.

At the same time, the state:

is a buyer and consumer of both factors of production and goods and services;

produces and sells goods and services;

manages the resources belonging to him;

redistributes cash flows and income.

Each economic entity in a market economy has basic goals. They are also called economic incentives.

The main goal of a household is to satisfy needs as much as possible.

The main goal of firms is to obtain maximum profit.

The main goal of the state is to ensure the maximum level of well-being of the country's population.

In an effort to achieve their main goals, economic entities enter into economic relations, which can be represented as a model of economic circulation.

Modern economic (economic) activities of subjects of a market economy are built on the basis of the following economic phenomena:

entrepreneurship;

commerce;

management;

marketing, etc.

Entrepreneurship– is the economic activity of an economic entity using novelty and invention, aimed at making a profit. It is carried out at your own peril and risk. Entrepreneurship is characterized by the following features:

freedom in choosing economic activities;

independence;

initiative and innovation;

responsibility for decisions made and their consequences and the associated risk;

orientation towards achieving economic and perhaps moral success.

Entrepreneurship performs a special function - ensuring development and

improving the economy, its constant renewal, creating an innovative environment that breaks traditional structures and opens the way to something new.

According to the forms of ownership, entrepreneurship is private, state and municipal; Based on the number of owners, it is divided into individual and collective. By organizational and commercial forms:

individual and private entrepreneurship;

partnership (partnership);

corporation (joint stock company).

Based on the size of the business, large, medium and small businesses are distinguished.

Commerce is the trading activity of people aimed at obtaining trading profits. This is part of entrepreneurial activity in the sphere of circulation, consisting primarily of concluding trade transactions. The main goal of modern commerce is comprehensive service of production and rationalization of the sphere of circulation.

The newest forms of modern economic activity include leasing, factoring, and franchising.

Leasing- long-term rental of machinery and equipment for the purpose of their production use.

Factoring– a form of commercial activity that represents debt management.

Franchising- an agreement concluded between large and small firms, according to which a large company allows small enterprises to sell their products on its behalf (this is how, in particular, the McDonald's group works).

Management– this is the activity of production management; a set of principles, methods, means and forms of production management, developed and applied with the aim of increasing production efficiency and increasing profits. Management is also the science of managing human relations in the production process and the relationships between consumers and producers. Here we explore ways and means of influencing the production process itself and the people involved in it in order to achieve the best results. A manager is a professional manager, general director, leader who knows psychology, sociology, production organization, etc.

Marketing– a system of measures to study the market and actively influence consumer demand in order to expand sales of manufactured goods and introduce new products into markets (“Dictionary-Reference Book of Economics”).

Economists view marketing as a philosophy of the market, as a type of human activity aimed at satisfying needs and wants through the market.

Chapter 2. BUSINESS ACTIVITIES AND ECONOMIC

SOCIETY SYSTEM

1. General characteristics of economic activity.

2. The doctrine of the human environment.

3. Forms and models of social economy.

4. The economic system of society in modern times economic literature.

Human life activity is studied by the most various sciences, representing separate branches of knowledge, each of which can dominate in a limited area, within the precisely assigned limits of research. Theoretical economics studies the economic activities of people.

1. General characteristics of economic activity

Economic activity is an expedient activity, that is, the efforts of people in the economic process, based on a known calculation and aimed at satisfying their various needs.

Human life activity in the economic process is manifested, on the one hand, in the waste of energy, resources, etc., and on the other, in the corresponding replenishment of living expenses, while the economic subject (a person in economic activity) strives to act rationally, i.e. by comparing costs and benefits (which does not exclude errors in making business decisions), and this behavior is explained as follows.

An essential feature of human life and activity is dependence on the material world. Some material goods (air, water, sunlight) are found in such quantities and in such a form that their use is available to a person everywhere, at all times. Satisfying their needs does not require any effort or sacrifice. These are free and gratuitous goods. As long as such conditions remain, these goods and the needs for them are not the concerns and calculations of man.

Other material goods are available in limited quantities (various kinds of “rarities”). To satisfy their existing needs and have them in sufficient quantity, efforts are required to obtain them and adapt them to use. These goods are called economic goods.

They are the ones that interest the practical business manager and theoretician economist. The loss of these benefits constitutes loss, damage, the compensation of which requires new efforts, costs, and sacrifices. The well-being of people depends on them, so the business manager treats them carefully, economically, and prudently.

The economic activity of people is a complex and intricate complex of various phenomena and a process in which theoretical economics distinguishes four stages: actual production, distribution, exchange and consumption.

Production is the process of creating material/spiritual goods necessary for human existence and development.

Distribution is the process of determining the share, quantity, proportion in which each economic entity participates in the produced product.

Exchange is the process of movement of material goods and services from one subject to another and a form of social connection between producers and consumers, mediating social metabolism.

Consumption is the process of using the results of production to satisfy certain needs. All these stages are interconnected and interacting. But before characterizing the relationship between these four stages, it is important to emphasize that any production is a social and continuous process: constantly repeating, it develops historically - it comes from the simplest forms (extraction primitive man food using primitive means) to modern automated

high-performance production. Despite all the dissimilarity of these types of production (both from the point of view of the material basis and from the point of view of the social form), it is possible to identify common points inherent in production as such.

Production in general is the process of human influence on objects and forces of nature in order to adapt them to satisfy certain needs. Although production in general is an abstraction, it is a reasonable abstraction, since it really highlights the general, fixes it and therefore saves us from repetition.

According to Marxist teaching, the relationship and interrelation of the four stages of economic activity are expressed as follows.

Production is the basis of life and the source of progress human society. It is the starting point of economic activity; consumption - the final destination; distribution and exchange act as accompanying stages linking production with consumption. Although production is the primary stage, it serves consumption.

Consumption forms final goal and the motive of production, since in consumption the product is destroyed, it dictates a new order for production. A satisfied need gives rise to a new need; the development of needs is the driving force for the development of production. But the emergence of the needs themselves is determined by production - the emergence of new products causes a corresponding need for this product and its consumption.

The distribution and exchange of the product depend on production, because only what has been produced can be distributed and exchanged. But in turn, they have an active reverse effect on production.

Thus, according to Marxist theory, the primacy of production is evident. Today, not all economists share this theoretical position. Thus, they write: “The primacy of production has always been interpreted in Marxism as the beginning of scientific political economy and all social science. How justified is this approach? If we keep in mind that before exchanging, distributing and consuming, we need to produce, then such a statement is a banality that lies beyond the bounds of science.

Economics as a science begins not with production, but with exchange, with trade, with the market. Low level Some economists associate the lives of the Russian people with the initial theoretical premise of the primacy of production in the economic policy of the former USSR, where production developed for the sake of production, to the detriment of the social sphere, the service sector, the production of consumer goods - what is extremely necessary for humans. Some economists question this theoretical position, pointing out the need to take into account the current real level of development of society, its material base, its dependence on the development of the spiritual sphere, the human mind, and the noosphere.

2. The doctrine of the human environment

Economic activities of an individual, their groups and society as a whole

carried out under certain conditions, in a certain situation, economic environment. The doctrine of human economic activity distinguishes between the natural and social environment. This is explained by the fact that in their economic activities people are limited and conditioned: firstly, by nature; secondly, a public organization. The natural environment determines natural conditions management. These include climatic and soil conditions, conditions of heredity, population size, quality of food, housing, clothing, etc. We already know that a person carries out his activities in conditions of natural limited resources. Thus, the area of ​​the globe is 510.2 million square meters. km, and most of(3/4) falls on the seas and oceans. At the same time, the soil conditions of the earth's crust are different, the volume of minerals is limited, the flora and fauna are diverse - all this determines the economic conditions.

Heredity plays a very significant role in achieving certain economic results. In Ancient Sparta, children of weak constitution were killed, and on the island of Candia there was a law according to which young people of both sexes, distinguished by beauty and strength, were selected, they were forced to marry in order to improve the “breed” of people. Science today certainly recognizes the law of heredity. Children inherit not only external resemblance, but also psychological qualities, not only health, but a number of diseases. Poverty associated with poor nutrition and poor hygienic conditions are expressed in an increase in mortality and illness not only of the present, but also of future generations. It is important to remember that all measures to improve heredity have their beneficial effect not immediately, but gradually. From the position modern science about the life activity of people in the natural environment, it is necessary to take into account the connection between man and space. The idea of ​​human life and activity as a cosmic phenomenon has existed for a long time. IN late XVII V. Dutch scientist H. Huygens noted in his work “Cosmoteoros” that life is a cosmic phenomenon. This idea was fully developed in the works of the Russian scientist on the noosphere.

It is possible to separate man from nature only mentally. Not a single living organism is found in a free state on Earth. All of them are inextricably and continuously connected, first of all, by nutrition and breathing with the material and energy environment around them. Outside of it, in natural conditions, they cannot exist, much less engage in economic activity. Materially, the Earth and other planets are not solitary, but are in communication. Cosmic matter falls on the Earth and affects the life activity of people, and earthly matter (the result of this life activity) goes into outer space - the so-called “breath of the Earth”. The state of the biosphere depends entirely on life activity on Earth. Strengthening consciousness, thoughts in the economic activities of people, the creation of forms that increasingly enhance the influence of life on the environment, lead to a new state of the biosphere - the noosphere (the intelligent layer around our planet).

Biological unity and equality of all people is a law of nature. From here

implementation of the ideal of equality, and in economic life- a natural and inevitable desire for the principles of social justice.

In the 20th century humanity, in the process of its life activity, has become a single whole, because today there is not a single corner of the Earth where a person cannot live and work, the exchange of information, communication through radio, television, computers, etc. have expanded. All this has become possible thanks to technology, created by man. In these conditions, universal human values ​​come to the fore, and in the development of the world economy the main problems are global universal problems: ecology, space and ocean exploration, disarmament, provision of energy, raw materials, food, etc. Economic activities of people are carried out within the framework of certain rules of the game, the main of which are property relations. It is these relationships that determine the social environment of economic activity, which is reflected in the results of economic activity. A. Smith wrote that “a person who is unable to acquire any property cannot have any interests other than to eat more and work less.” The motivation to work here is either extremely weak or completely absent. This theoretical position is confirmed by the economic practice of countries where, until recently, “nobody's” public ownership prevailed. Private property creates conditions for free competition and encourages proactive, creative and more productive work.

Various types of activities have a significant impact on the conditions of economic activity. state organizations establishing laws, business rules, regulating conditions labor activity, as well as societies, partnerships, parties and trade unions demanding improved working conditions and other economic institutions. Replacing the bureaucratic management system with free institutions, as it were, “cleanses” social sphere, freeing business executives from the oppressive feeling of connectedness and subordination, awakening in them personal initiative, business scope, and in hired workers it develops a sense of self-esteem, accustoms them to consistent and persistent, albeit more calm and correct, defense of their interests.

Property relations give rise to differentiation of producers, poor and rich appear. Upbringing, education and average life expectancy in these social groups are different. Upbringing and education, promoting physical and mental development, make a person more capable of work and affect heredity. The French doctor Dipson showed that the average life expectancy of the rich is late XIX V. was 57 years old, and the poor - 37 years old. In Russia at the end of the 20th century. the average life expectancy was 59 years.

Property relations largely determine working conditions. Even the ancients understood that a person cannot work without rest. The commandment of Moses states that the seventh day of the week is to be dedicated to rest: “On that day you shall not do any work, you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, your ox, your donkey, or anyone.” your livestock, nor the stranger who is within your gates."

The desire for an “unreasonable” increase in the working day is caused by the erroneous belief that profit depends on the length of the working day (K. Marx’s doctrine of surplus value is based on this thesis). There is no doubt that a person can and should work only a certain number of hours a day without harming his body. It is assumed that during the day a person should work 8 hours, sleep 8 hours and rest 8 hours. If this ratio is violated (working hours increase), then the person will shorten the life span during which he will be able to work and will become a victim of premature death.

Thus, the behavior of “economic man” is determined not only

natural, but also social conditions, and therefore, not only social laws, but also the laws of biology, space and the entire system of laws of natural science. The difference between economic laws and the laws of nature is that the former are manifested through the activities of people who have consciousness and, as a rule, on average, tendencies are (most of them) historically occurring in nature.

3. Forms and models of social economy

The history of the development of society allows us to distinguish two main formulas of the social economy: natural and commodity.

The natural form of economy is a form of economy in which the production of material goods and services is carried out for one’s own consumption, for consumption within a separate economic unit.

The material basis of the natural economy is the weak, low development of the social division of labor. The natural form of economy is characterized by a self-sufficient, closed, local nature of production, limited by the framework of a given economy, its unit.

The natural form of economy was historically based on land ownership, which is the foundation of all property relations. At the same time, it was the absence of private ownership of land, its concentration in the hands of the state as the supreme owner, that as its inevitable result had the merging of property and state power. And the merging of property and power gives rise to relationships between people directly, and not through the relationship to the products of their labor.

These essential features of a natural economy determine its conservatism, so-called stability, immobility. This is precisely what explains the preservation of agricultural fields over thousands of years, which are based on communal ownership of land. The natural form of economy reflects such a level of development of production, which determines its extremely limited goal, namely, the satisfaction of needs that are insignificant in volume and uniform in qualitative composition, which ultimately determines the inertia of the social economy and the low pace of its development.

The historical experience of subsistence farming testifies to the huge variety of models of subsistence farming: the primitive community, the Asian community, the German community (mark), the Slavic “zadruga”, etc.

The commodity form of economy originates as the opposite of natural economy, first in relations between communities, and then penetrating within them, gradually turning natural economy into a subordinate and dying element of the economic life of society. The replacement of a subsistence economy with a commercial one is a long, complex and variable-quality process; this is largely determined by the specific conditions, the functioning of the natural form of economy, its conservatism, inertia, and stagnation.

A commodity (market) economy is a social form of economic organization based on commodity production, ensuring the interaction of production and consumer through the market.

Commodity production presupposes that products are created by individual, private, isolated producers, each of whom specializes in the production of one particular product, therefore, in order to satisfy social needs, the purchase and sale of products on the market, their commodity-money exchange is necessary. This understanding of commodity production defines its essence as the production of products for the market for exchange, but at the same time indicates the condition for the emergence of commodity production. First necessary condition the emergence of commodity production is associated with the social division of labor. In the process of development of the social division of labor, specialization of producers occurs in the production of any one product. This necessitates exchange.

The social division of labor is a material condition for the existence of commodity production, characterized by a certain level of development of the productive forces. The reason for commodity production should be considered the economic isolation of commodity producers as different owners. It is the economic isolation of commodity producers that is a necessary and sufficient condition for the transformation of exchange into commodity exchange. Only as a result of exchange between different owners of the product

becomes a commodity. Economic isolation is possible both in conditions of private ownership and in conditions of collective, communal, corporate ownership. Depending on the nature of the development of these conditions, the formation and various models commodity production, the market system as a whole.

Historically, the original model of a market economy was the relationship of absolute dominance of the economic and political power of a centralized state, which, despite all negative consequences for the development of the economic system as a whole, it had sufficient stability and vitality.

A new quality of economic growth, dynamism of development arises only when another, so-called “Western model”, the birth of which dates back to the middle of the first millennium BC, known as the “Greek miracle”, gradually emerges from this model of a market economy.

The basis for the formation of this model of a market economy was the formation of a traditional system of private land ownership, increasingly independent of the state. As a result of the genesis of this model of a market economy, a system has emerged where communal ownership of land itself is gradually retreating from private ownership, and the centuries-long absence of distribution and ownership of land by the state leads to the fact that the state from the supreme owner turns into only an instrument of the economic system. Power and property diverge and lose their inseparability.

The modern market economy is based on the interaction of the private and public sectors of the economy. Depending on the degree of intensity of impact on the economy and on the priority tasks solved by the state, the following models of a modern market economy are distinguished (Fig. 2.1).

As for the Russian economy, it has historically relied on the primacy of either state, community, or public property, which ultimately determined the specifics of modern market reforms aimed at the transition to a more progressive model of a market economy, in which the main system-forming elements are: traditional universal recognition of private property and power;

functions of the state as an instrument and conditions for the development of market relations.

Rice. 2.1. Models of modern market economy

The peculiarities of the market model of the economy in Russia were also determined by the fact that our country has always occupied a special position between the West and the East. This predetermined the unique character of Russia, since it embarked on the “Western” path of development. This intermediate position is reflected in the real struggle between opposing trends in the development of the Russian economy. A major role in the development of commodity production in Russia and its transition to a market economic model was played by the Witte-Stolypin reforms, during which a developed land market was formed, the trend of the functional role radically changed Russian state. It was thanks to the efforts of the state that its share in the economy decreased, the non-state sector grew faster, which, making up the market environment, turned into the dominant one. As a result, in Russia, after the defeat of the revolution of 1905-1907, after the Stolypin reform, for the first time in the country’s history, an economic recovery began, stimulated by the potential of the market.

The model of a market economy, in which a person is at the center of the system, goes through several stages in its development.

The first stage is simple, or undeveloped, commodity production. His

The essential features are the following:

1. Social division of labor as a material condition for the existence of commodity production.

2. Private ownership of the means of production and products of labor.

3. Personal labor of the owner for the means of production.

4. Satisfaction of social needs is carried out through the purchase and sale of labor products.

5. The economic connection between people is carried out through the market, that is, it is of a public nature.

Thus, simple commodity production is the production of products for exchange between independent private producers-peasants and artisans.

With developed commodity production, not only all products of labor, but also factors of production, including labor, become goods. Market relations are becoming universal. There is a reification of the entire system of economic relations, which act as relations between things, and commodity fetishism arises.

The achievement of commodity production at its highest stage of development is associated with the establishment of the capitalist mode of production in the process of primitive accumulation of capital, which forms the prehistory of capital and includes the following two sides.

1. Transformation of the mass of producers into those who are personally free, but at the same time deprived of any means of production. This process means the emergence of a new product on the market - labor.

2. Concentration of monetary wealth and means of production in the hands of a minority.

The first side of the process of initial accumulation of capital - the separation of producers from the means of production - occurred very slowly and this process in itself did not yet constitute the era of initial accumulation of capital and the transition of commodity production to a new quality.

The accelerator of this process was the active economic role of the state, which contributed to the formation of the initial accumulation of capital, namely the separation of the direct producer from the means of production, the basis of which was the forced dispossession of the peasantry. The second side is the accumulation of large funds and the emergence of the first capitalists. The main methods of initial accumulation of large funds: the colonial system, the system of government loans, the tax system, the system of protectionism. In this process it is very important role the state played.

A special form of social economy is the administrative-command, centralized economy. Although in essence it is adjacent to the commodity (market) form, because commodity relations of production and consumption are preserved, they are seriously deformed by the excessive intervention of a single economic center, which gives orders and instructions, issues plans, directives, regulations that have the force of laws, to the direct executor - to the business owner. Such a center is the state, which decides what to produce, how to distribute resources (using the funding method), assigns suppliers to consumers, and sets prices centrally.

The material basis of this system was developed machine production and a developed system of social division of labor. This form of social economy is similar to the first model of a market economy, but it arises at a higher level of development of social production.

Thus, an administrative-command, centrally planned economy is a form of social economy when, in conditions of a developed social division of labor, producer specialization, and diversity of economic structures, conscious strict regulation of the development of the economy as an organic whole is carried out from a single center.

Two main models of this form of social economy can be distinguished: planned-directive and planned-normative. Both of these models of social economy represent a deliberately tightly regulated economy based on a directive plan or planned standards. At the same time, the independence of enterprises is ignored to one degree or another, and the assessment of their activities is carried out on the basis of the implementation of plans or standards. There are other common and distinctive features these models (Fig. 2.2).

Rice. 2.2. Basic forms of social economy

4. The economic system of society in modern economic literature

In the process of economic activity, economic relations between people always function as a certain system, including objects and subjects of these relations, various forms of connections between them. According to V. Leontyev, the economy of each country is a large system in which there are many different types of activities, and each link, component of the system can exist only because it receives something from others, that is, it is interconnected and interdependent on other links. An economic system is a specially ordered system of connections between producers and consumers of material and intangible goods and services. This means that in an economic system, activities are always organized and coordinated in one way or another. M. Friedman in the book “Capitalism and Freedom” examines two ways of coordinating the economic activities of people. The first is centralized coercive leadership, or hierarchy; These are the methods of the army, of the modern totalitarian state. The second is the voluntary cooperation of individuals, or spontaneous, elemental order;

The main signal to action here is prices. A decrease or increase in the price of resources and the results of labor show business executives in which direction they need to act. The concept of an economic system is interpreted differently by different economists: An economic system is a set of mechanisms of institutions for making and implementing decisions regarding production, income and consumption within a certain geographical territory (P. Gregory, R. Stewart).

The economic system includes all institutions, organizations, laws and rules, traditions, beliefs, positions, assessments, prohibitions and patterns of behavior that directly or indirectly affect economic behavior and results (F. Pryor).

Such definitions show that economic systems are multidimensional. They can be formalized as follows: where ES is an economic system determined by properties (Ai) existing in the amount N. These properties can act as criteria for differentiation economic systems, determining their type.

The following can be distinguished the most important points economic system (Fig. 2.3).

Rice. 2.3. General points of the economic system

Productive forces (category of Marxist theory) are a system of personal, subjective and material objective factors of social production; This is a set of means of production and people who have knowledge, production experience, skills to work and put the means of production into action. Productive forces form the leading side of social production. Each stage of development of the productive forces corresponds (according to Marxism) to certain production relations, which act as a socio-economic form of movement. The labor process constitutes the material basis of the production process, but it is not identical to the latter. The process of production of material goods and services includes not only the labor process, but also the economic relations of workers to each other in the process of labor activity. In the process of labor, not only the external nature of the good changes, but also knowledge and experience are accumulated, people’s qualifications increase, and the person himself changes. In this sense, labor created man and is the main factor in his development. The main elements of the labor process are labor as conscious, purposeful human activity, objects of labor and means of labor. Objects of labor are what human labor is aimed at, which forms the material basis of the future finished product. Objects of labor are either given by nature itself (for example, ore deposits), or are a product of previous labor, i.e., raw material. The latter includes main raw materials (items from which production products are directly created) and auxiliary materials (substances that contribute to the manufacture of the product, for example, in the sewing industry they can be dyes, threads, etc.).

As a result of scientific and technological progress, man creates objects of labor with predetermined properties (chemical raw materials), such that do not exist in nature. Nature, the earth, and in a broad sense the entire world around us, including the near-Earth space, constitute a universal subject of labor. The role of raw materials in production is increasing, but the primary basis of objects of labor remains land. Before a substance of nature turns into a finished product, it must go through one or more stages of processing; a semi-finished product appears. In contrast to the finished product (a completely finished result of labor, ready for consumption), a semi-finished product is a product of labor that must undergo further processing before becoming a finished product suitable for consumption.

Means of labor - a thing or a set of things that a person places between himself and the object of labor; what a person uses to influence the subject of labor, creating a finished product. The means of labor are the most important indicator level of production development. Material means of labor are divided into natural (earth, stick, stone, etc., tamed domestic animals, organic fertilizers, as well as the worker’s body organs) and technical (i.e., artificially created by man). Part technical means labor includes tools of labor - various machines, mechanisms, devices, tools, engines, transmission devices. In the conditions of machine production, mechanical means of labor developed into a system of machines with three components: working machine, engine, transmission device. NTR added a fourth component to the machine system - a control device that performs the functions of mental labor to control the machine system. The so-called cybernetic technology is increasingly used, the fundamental difference of which from any other machines is that it processes not energy (like physical machines) or matter (like chemical ones), but information. Robotics is becoming widespread. Computerization and automation of production cause a change in the role of man: he gradually leaves the direct production process and becomes close to it. By analogy with the human body, mechanical means of labor can be defined as a “musculoskeletal production system”; the means of labor that serve to store objects of labor constitute the “vascular system of production” (pipes, tanks, vessels, etc.); the control device can be characterized as a “nervous production system”; highways, bridges, pipelines, means of communication and communication form the general conditions of production. Means of production should be distinguished from means of labor. Means of production are a set of objects of labor and means of labor that are always interconnected and correspond each other. For example, baking bread requires not only the presence of flour (a subject of labor), but also appropriate ovens, equipment, buildings (bakeries), trays for storing and transporting bread (means of labor), etc. The central place in the economic system is occupied by interaction of production factors (Fig. 2.4).

FigInteraction of production factors

Natural resources, which include land, oil, water, forest, gas, ore deposits, etc., are used in production and constitute its factor. These resources are rare, and in many cases their supply is decreasing day by day. Labor as a factor of production covers all kinds of human abilities and skills that can be used in the production of goods and services. To be more precise, in this case we are not talking about labor as a purposeful human activity, but about labor power. Labor force is the totality of a person’s physical and spiritual strength, his ability to work. The consumption of labor power in the production process is labor, or purposeful human activity aimed at changing objects of nature, adapting them to human needs. Awareness, expediency of actions, their focus on achieving the required result, the manufacture and use of tools of production in the labor process, as well as the exchange of information and accumulated experience characterize exclusively human work. Animals make changes to nature instinctively. Capital as a factor of production consists of buildings and structures, equipment, tools, vehicles, means of distribution and semi-finished products used in production. By themselves, land, labor and capital cannot create anything. The person (or group of people) who takes responsibility and risk for the use of these factors of production and decides how to manage these resources is called an entrepreneur. To accept right decisions in organizing and managing a company, he must have entrepreneurial abilities, which are the fourth factor of production. Risk is inevitable because entrepreneurs buy and use factors of production without any guarantee that the money they receive from selling their products will cover their costs. They have no confidence that they will make a profit. Only the expectation of profit makes them take risks and take responsibility for their decisions. In Marxist theory, factors of production are classified somewhat differently: material factors (means of production) and personal factors (labor). This division is extremely important in Marxism, as it shows that surplus value and profit are created not by all factors of production, but only by the personal factor. It is labor power that is the subject of exploitation.

The production capabilities of the economic system are limited by the rarity of the resources used, which, as society develops, not only remains, but sometimes even increases. This is due to the fact that non-renewable natural resources are being depleted, consumption does not provide new impetuses for the development of the production of new goods and services.

The qualitative characteristics of the latter are changing, which causes an increase in the need for consumer goods and investment. But since resources are limited, society must make a choice. When choosing, society is forced to give up something, give up something, that is, make some kind of sacrifice in order to get the desired result. What we give up is called the opportunity (hidden) costs of achieving the result chosen by society. If economic resources are used for the construction of residential buildings, then their monetary value consists of the costs of land, materials and labor. The opportunity cost would be the hospital, school, library or offices that could have been built with the same resources. Society can devote absolutely all its resources to the construction of residential buildings, or it can reduce the volume of this construction in order to also build hospitals and schools.

Thus, the volume of construction of residential buildings and hospitals and other buildings is not only alternative, but also complementary. The values ​​of alternative possibilities are shown in Fig. 2.5.

Rice. 2.5. Meanings of alternative possibilities

This digital example can be illustrated on a graph of the production possibilities frontier, or transformation (Fig. 2.6), where the horizontal line shows the number of hospitals, schools, etc., and the vertical line shows the number of residential buildings. By fixing the numbers on the graph and connecting them, we get the production possibilities curve, or transformation (ABCDEF).

The economic meaning of the transformation is that society makes a technological choice in the economy - in this case, between the construction of residential buildings, etc. through the redistribution of resources (Fig. 2.6). Rice. 2.6. Production possibility or transformation curve

The production possibilities frontier graph illustrates the fact that

A national economy that realizes its full potential cannot increase the production of any good without sacrificing another good. The functioning of an economic system at the frontier of its production possibilities (points A, B, C, D, E, F) indicates its

efficiency. Based on this, the choice of a combination corresponding to point M is regarded as unsuccessful for a given society, since it does not allow it to effectively use production resources. Production based on the choice of point N is generally unfeasible, since this point lies outside the boundaries of the production capabilities of a given economic system.

Thus, the main problem of the effective functioning of the economic system is the problem of choice. The essence of the problem of choice is that if each factor used to satisfy diverse needs is limited, then there is always the problem of alternative use and the search for a scientific combination of factors of production. A reflection of this problem is the formulation of three main questions of economics (Fig. 2.7).

Rice. 2.7. Basic economic issues

In the economic literature, there are different views on the development trend of economic (economic) systems. Some believe that the defining trend in the development of systems is the tendency towards uniformity, unification structural elements(E. Preobrazhensky). Other economists believe that the existence of different economic systems mutually enriches these systems, which leads to economic growth and the emergence of a qualitatively new economic system.

Such inconsistency of views reflects the inconsistency of the development of the economic system, when one trend comes to replace another, the long-term development of many countries confirms this theoretical conclusion: general nationalization is replaced by denationalization; universal planning - by abandoning it; centralization - decentralization, etc. The stronger the fluctuations, the greater the difficulties in the development of the country's economy.

The modern world is characterized by the presence of a variety of economic systems, which, in one or another historical period, did not remain unchanged, but were constantly evolving. In order to better understand this or that phenomenon in the life of society, it is necessary to observe it not among any one people and not in one particular era, and consider it in the process historical development, that is, to understand it as something changeable, forming, going through certain phases, stages of development. A Question of Integrity modern world is a fundamental issue in social science, part of which is economic theory (political economy).

The modern world is the result of the natural historical development of society. The understanding of this historical process among individual economists of our time is different and is explained by the use of different criteria for characteristics this process. The most famous is the formational approach that underlies the analysis of phenomena and processes public life. In a letter to V. Zasulich, K. Marx identified three main formations:

1. Primary (archaic), where he included the primitive communal and Asian methods of production.

2. Secondary, based on private property (slavery, serfdom,

capitalism).

3. Communist social formation. According to Marx, communism is not

"ideal mode of production", as many of us imagined it, but a historical era, including a number of modes of production, the main content of which is the destruction of private property. The communist ideal “The free development of everyone is the condition for the free development of all,” according to Marx, will be realized only after the end of the era of communism in the new era of “positive humanism.”

The formational approach made it possible to identify the natural stages in the historical development of society and identify five ways material production(primitive communal, slaveholding, feudal, capitalist and communist) based on the assertion that the decisive role in social production belongs directly to the production process. Today, the classical identification of five production methods is questionable for a number of reasons, including because it applies only to Western Europe and has no universal significance. The Asian mode of production, the civilizations of China and India do not fit into this; with a stretch, Russia can also be included here. Therefore, consideration of the processes of world development at the level of formation, the method of material production, with all their theoretical and historical significance, cannot cover the entire complex range of events occurring in the world, and therefore a certain limitation of this approach is obvious. In the economic literature, attempts are being made to use other criteria to analyze the phenomena and processes of social life. In 1906, K. Bucher, based on the criterion of the nature of the connection in society between production and consumption, singled out.

1. Closed household, where the created goods are consumed in the economy itself without exchange.

2. Urban economy where direct exchange takes place, goods move from the producing economy to the consuming one.

3. National economy, where goods on the basis of commodity-money exchange pass through a number of households before they enter consumption.

The first system is characterized by the existence of primitive family groups

(matriarchal and patriarchal family), serfdom and slavery. The family usually numbered 16-40 people, the Slavic "zadruga" numbered 20-25 people. The slave-owning and later serf-owning households reached enormous proportions. Exchange here was a secondary phenomenon; material goods were accumulated rather than sold. Hence the opinion arose that Russian hospitality and hospitality are products of the serfdom system, when huge quantities accumulated

supplies that were best consumed among friends.

The second system is characterized by the free economic activity of small independent artisans and the monopoly-guild organization of the economy. The third system is large production using periodically free hired labor. A “national or capitalist economy” emerges. The replacement of the guild organization with a capitalist one is carried out with the support of the state, the term “politeia” is becoming widespread - government structure. An entrepreneur appears who first buys finished products, then supplies the craftsmen with raw materials, then he himself becomes a central figure. The spirit of rationalism embraces all relationships.

K. Bucher's scheme was opposed by Ed. Meyer and Beloch, relying on evidence of widespread trade development in Ancient Rome and Greece. They argued that the presence of trade in those days does not deny the fact that characterizes the economic type of economy among ancient peoples as a closed household. The famous American scientist W. Rostow, like K. Marx, divides history into five stages: traditional society (primitive technology, agriculture, the power of large landowners), transitional society (centralized state, entrepreneurship), the “shift” stage (industrial revolution and its consequences), the stage of “maturity” (science and technology revolution, urbanization), the stage of “mass consumption” (the determining role of the service sector and the production of consumer goods). In this concept, the basis for the development of productive force and the sequence of stages resembles the teachings of K. Marx, despite some innovations. Modern economic thought, based on the use of the criterion “degree of industrial development of society,” distinguishes: industrial, post-industrial, neo-industrial (information) societies (J. Galbraith, R. Aron, etc.). The most widespread classification of economic systems in the world economic literature is based on two criteria:

1) according to the form of ownership of the means of production;

2) by the way in which economic activity is coordinated and managed.

Based on these characteristics, they distinguish:

A command or totalitarian economy, where most enterprises are state-owned and operate based on government directives; all decisions about the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of material goods and services in society are made by the state. This includes the former USSR, North Korea and etc.;

Market economy or capitalism of the era of free competition, which

characterized by private ownership of resources, the use of a system of markets and prices to coordinate and manage economic activity. In a free market economy, the state does not play any role in the distribution of resources; all decisions are made by market entities independently, at their own peril and risk. Despite the fact that they are guided by their own interests, their activities are guided, as it were, in the words of A. Smith, by an “invisible hand” (i.e., competition) in order to realize the interests of other people and society as a whole. These include, for example, Hong Kong;

A mixed economy, where both the state and the private sector (enterprises and households) play an important role in the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of all resources and material goods in the country, where the state intervenes in the market economy, but not so much as to nullify regulatory role of the market. This includes developed countries, including the USA, England, France, Germany, etc.

A special place in the development of human society is occupied by a transitional economy - an economy that is in a state of change, transition from one state to another, both within one type of economy and from one type of economy to another. A transitional period in the development of society should be distinguished from a transition economy, during which a change in social relations of one type to another takes place.

In Russian economic thought there is a classification of economic systems, which reflects the modern vision of the world as a result of the historical development of various types of civilization. The word "civilization" is of Latin origin, which translated into Russian means civil, public. This relatively young concept for science was introduced into scientific circulation only two centuries ago and was used by French Enlightenment philosophers to characterize a society in which reason and freedom reign. Now in the scientific literature the term “civilization” is used to assess the degree and level of culture (they distinguish between ancient and modern, European and Asian, etc.); to characterize the stages of development of human society that replaced barbarism (L. Morgan, F. Engels); it is defined as a cultural and historical cycle of development of closed groups, peoples and states (L. Toynbee); as the final stage of the development of culture, the phase of its decline (O. Spengler); as a set of basic components of social life: human potential, the method of production of material goods, the environment. There are gathering, agricultural and industrial civilizations (). Civilization is also considered a certain stage in the cyclical development of society in the integrity of its constituent elements: science, economics, culture, etc. (). In Russia, the most common idea is of civilization as a reasonably organized system of economic, socio-legal relations in developed countries. New approaches to understanding the world around us are determined by the depth, scale and nature of the changes taking place in the world, especially in the second half of the 20th century. These include: revolutionary changes in technology, technologies that fundamentally changed

organization of production;

Awareness of the threat nuclear war, ecological destruction of the community of human destinies;

Awareness of the complexity and multidimensionality of the world of our planet, created as a result of centuries of evolutionary development;

Understanding qualitative changes in world civilization. One of the greatest tragedies is that, without noticing it ourselves, we are captive of the most primitive stereotypes, cliches, one of which is the ability to see the world in a two-color image and think only in pair categories: left-right; Democratic Conservatives; socialism-capitalism; private and public property, etc. This is the thinking and conceptual apparatus of the 20th century. Today, social, including economic, life with its multidimensionality cannot be described by science in this way.

Hence the need to search for new approaches, new theories characterizing the development of economic systems. In this regard, the theory of political development of society and the change of civilizations is of undoubted interest.

According to this theory, seven civilizations can be distinguished: Neolithic, whose duration in the world was 30-35 centuries, and in Russia 20-30 centuries; eastern slaveholding (Bronze Age) - 12-13 centuries in the world and 11-12 centuries in Russia; early feudal - 7 and 7 centuries, respectively; pre-industrial - 4.5 and 2.5 centuries, respectively; industrial - 2.5 and 1.5 centuries, respectively; pre-industrial - with a duration of 1.3 in the world and 1.4 centuries in Russia.

Graphically, this can be represented as follows (Fig. 2.8).

Rice. 2.8. Change of civilizations in the world

This theory allows us to take a fresh look at the processes that are currently taking place in the world in general and in Russia in particular. It allows us to draw the following conclusions.

1. The state of the world economy and the Russian economy is the result of the natural course of development of human society; This state cannot be viewed as the result of a failed attempt to build socialism, and the 75 years lived by our country as a step back, although these years coincided with the decline of industrial civilization, because its dawn, the highest point on the graph for Russia, coincides with 1909.

2. The transition to a market economy is not an invention of anti-communists or politicians in power in Russia, but an objective necessity due to the replacement of industrial civilization with post-industrial civilization; the latter is essentially a socially oriented market economy.

3. Since the market took place in all civilizations (although its role was different), the essence of the modern transition period comes down not to the transition to a market (it is impossible to move from market to market), but to the replacement of one civilization by another. The statement about the modern transition of Russia to the market indicates that we are captive of primitive stereotypes, cliches, according to which it was believed that socialism (including that built in Russia) is incompatible with the market, the plan and the market are antipodes, etc. .

4. The duration of the transition period, if understood as the stage of crisis and displacement of the outgoing civilization and the birth of a new civilization, according to the calculations of Leningrad economists, is 1/4 of the total duration of the cycle, therefore Russia will enter the new civilization approximately in 2010.

5. Due to the fact that Russia entered one civilization or another later, but went through it much faster, we can assume that the peoples of Russia perceive progress faster than is usually thought. It is wrong to represent the peoples of Russia as lazy, worthless and inert people. The evolution of civilization shows the opposite. And great things are seen from a distance!

Formation of a new civilization as a concept of vision of a holistic picture

The modern, constantly changing world will require the heroic efforts of more than a dozen scientists, knowledge and skillful application of the laws of statistics, laws of dynamics, genetics to society, and improvement of the methodology of economic science.

Any society To ensure a normal (reasonably comfortable) level of his life, he carries out many types of specific work. For this purpose, certain organizations are created that jointly carry out a particular mission and act on the basis of certain rules and procedures. An enterprise (organization) is an organizationally designated and economically independent main (primary) link in the production sector of the national economy, manufacturing products, performing work or providing services.

In business practice, each enterprise, as a complex production and economic system, carries out many specific types activities. Each enterprise independently plans its activities and determines development prospects (strategy), based on the demand for manufactured products (work, services provided) and the need to constantly increase its own profits, and also provides logistics for production.

The functioning of an enterprise is accompanied by a continuous circulation of funds, carried out in the form of expenditure of resources and receipt of income, their distribution and use.

Every enterprise has a specific goal. There may be several goals; they are usually set by the owners, and to achieve them, material and human resources are used, with the help of which financial economic activity. That is, in essence, financial and economic activity is a tool for achieving hierarchical, economic and other goals facing a specific enterprise.

Financial and economic activity is a purposefully carried out process of practical implementation of enterprise functions related to the formation and use of its financial resources to ensure economic and social development. It is carried out at all stages of the life cycle of an enterprise: from the moment of its birth to the moment of its liquidation as an independent business entity. The process of carrying out the financial and economic activities of an enterprise is characterized by a wide range of its financial relations with various entities of the country’s financial system.

The financial and economic activity of an enterprise is characterized, first of all, by the quantity and range of products produced, as well as the volume of its sales. The volume of products produced directly depends on the availability and quality of production facilities, the availability of necessary raw materials, materials or components, personnel with appropriate qualifications, and markets for products.

In turn, the volume of output affects all other aspects of the financial and economic activities of the enterprise - the cost of output, the amount of profit received, profitability production, financial condition of the enterprise.

The financial and economic activities of enterprises are purposeful activities based on decisions made, each of which is optimized on the basis of intuition or calculations. Decision risk is understood as the probability that the results of the implemented decision do not correspond to the goals set.

There are a lot of factors influencing the financial and economic activities of an enterprise or organization. Not all of them can be analyzed. The most important are the available resources - financial, material, personnel.

Purpose of financial and economic activities- obtaining the best possible results. The tasks that are solved in achieving the goal are: providing the production process with resources and managing them; organization of production and technological process; formation of positive results. The objectives of managing financial and economic activities are: planning, control, adjustment, analysis, increasing efficiency.

Financial and economic activity is an activity primarily related to its basis - the finances of the enterprise. However, the efficiency of financial organization acts as the financial condition of the enterprise. The latter depends on the effective organization of all cash flow. Therefore, financial and economic activity as a concept covers a wide range of activities within the enterprise, consisting of control over the provision of cash payments, receipt of cash income and expenses, the formation and distribution of cash savings and financial resources.

The diverse financial and economic activities of the enterprise are carried out on the basis of planned and forecast current and operational financial documents. The objects of planning, regulation and control in them are monetary and financial relations, materialized in the corresponding indicators. The main objects of financial and economic activity are those diverse monetary and financial relations of enterprises that constitute the content of the finances of enterprises.

The efficiency of the financial and economic activities of an enterprise should be understood as its result, obtained or potentially possible in the process of converting certain resources into the final product (work, service). The level of efficiency of the financial and economic activities of an enterprise is characterized by the level of its costs, results and financial condition. That is why, in order to determine the level of efficiency of the financial and economic activities of an enterprise, it is necessary to calculate a set of indicators characterizing its cost intensity, effectiveness and financial condition.

To determine the essence of the financial and economic activities of an enterprise, it is necessary to define its main constituent elements. These elements are: enterprise finances, structure of enterprise funds, structure of enterprise property, goals financial analysis, subjects of analysis.

Savitskaya G.V. writes that in market conditions, enterprise finances become especially important. The increasing role of business finance should be seen as a trend occurring throughout the world.

The main goal of assessing the financial and economic activity of an enterprise, according to V.P. Strazhev, is to obtain a small number of key (most informative) parameters that give an objective and accurate picture of the financial condition of the enterprise, its profits and losses, changes in the structure of assets and liabilities, in settlements with debtors and creditors, which will be discussed in the next paragraph of the final qualifying work.

The activity of an enterprise is a process that includes not only the direct production of goods or the provision of services, but also financial and economic activities, supply, sales of products, use of labor and material resources, equipment and machinery. An enterprise is a structured and living organism.

The structure of any enterprise includes an administrative and management apparatus, a production department, a financial and economic department, and an accounting and reporting department. In addition, the structure may include other divisions whose tasks include ensuring a continuous process of production and manufacturing of products that would be competitive and meet market requirements in terms of quantity, quality and delivery time. At the same time, the main requirement and criterion for the efficiency of an enterprise is the minimization of production costs, i.e. reducing the cost of goods and services produced.

Factors determining the production and economic activities of an enterprise

The efficiency of the production and economic activities of an enterprise, first of all, depends on factors such as the availability of production capacity, the state of the production and technical base, its technical and organizational level, the extent to which the organization of production and labor meets the modern requirements of the situation and the market.

Such a factor as financial and economic planning is also of great importance for the activities of an enterprise. This is not only the uninterrupted provision of the necessary resources, but also constant control over the current activities of the enterprise, prompt adjustment of management decisions in order to achieve planned results.

Control is carried out by analyzing the production and economic activities of the enterprise by comparing the main results of these activities with calculated and planned indicators. Such indicators characterizing the efficiency of an enterprise, for example, include:
- profit from the sale of goods and services provided;
- total production costs;
- profitability;
- level of remuneration of people working at the enterprise;
- the amount of funds in the current accounts of the enterprise;
- existing accounts payable and receivable.

In the distant past (over 10 thousand years ago), people practically did not engage in production, but only took everything they needed from nature. Their activities consisted of hunting, fishing and gathering. Over time, humanity has greatly changed and improved activities.

From this article you will learn what economic activity is and what types of economic activity there are.

So, farming refers to the production by people of everything that is necessary to meet needs and improve living conditions. In other words, economic activity is a set of industries that are interconnected.

These industries include:

• Agriculture;
• industry;
• services sector;
• transport;
• trade;
• science and education;
• healthcare;
• construction.

It is engaged in providing the population with food and supplying raw materials for some industries. The development of agricultural production depends mainly on natural conditions. The degree of development of agriculture, in turn, has a great influence on the economy and political situation of the state, as well as on its food independence.

The most important areas of this industry are animal husbandry and crop production. Animal husbandry deals with keeping and breeding farm animals to produce food (eggs, cheese, milk), raw materials (wool) and organic fertilizers. It includes cattle breeding, poultry farming, sheep breeding, pig breeding, etc.

The objective of crop farming is to grow various agricultural crops, which are then used as food, animal feed and raw materials. The branches of crop production include vegetable growing, potato growing, horticulture, grain farming, etc.

Enterprises that produce tools and are engaged in the extraction of materials, raw materials, fuel, as well as the processing of industrial or agricultural products. Industry is divided into mining and manufacturing. The mining industry specializes in the extraction of raw materials, oil, coal, ores, peat, and the manufacturing industry specializes in the production of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, machinery, equipment, building materials. Industry includes the following sectors:

• fuel industry;
• light industry;
• food industry;
• forest industry;
• non-ferrous metallurgy;
• ferrous metallurgy;
• mechanical engineering and other industries.

Services sector

This industry is designed to provide the population with material and intangible (spiritual) services. Material services include consumer services, communications, and transportation. Intangible ones - healthcare, trade, public services. There are also market and non-market services. Market services mean those services that are sold on the market at prices that are significant from an economic point of view. Transport, paid education and healthcare are examples of typical market services. Non-market services include science, defense and free health and education services, that is, everything that has no economic significance.

A means of meeting the needs of the population for the transportation of goods and passengers. This industry expands the scale of production and consumption, as it literally connects these two processes. However, transport is highly dependent on external conditions, because transportation is often carried out over long distances. However, the transport industry is considered quite profitable in market conditions, not to mention the monopolization of transport.

Human activities that are associated with acts of purchase and sale and a set of operations intended to carry out the exchange process. There are two types of trade: wholesale and retail. At wholesale trade goods are purchased in large quantities, since it is purchased for the purpose of further use. Retail, on the contrary, carries out acts of purchase and sale directly to end consumers.

Education includes preschool and general secondary education, as well as personnel training. Education includes such sectors as transport, natural science, psychological, radio engineering, mathematics, construction and other types of education. The goal of science is to obtain scientific knowledge as the results of research. Science is very difficult to overestimate: its contribution to the development of the state’s economy, increasing the efficiency of material production and protecting the state’s information resources is very great.

The industry involved in organizing and ensuring public health protection. To preserve and maintain physical and mental health, as well as to provide assistance in case of deterioration of health, special social institutions are created.

This industry ensures the commissioning of new ones, as well as the reconstruction and repair of facilities for both production and non-production purposes. The main role of this industry is to create conditions for the dynamic pace of development of the state’s economy. In addition, this industry is directly involved in the creation of fixed assets (along with the building materials industry, metallurgy and some other sectors of the economy), which are intended for all sectors of the national economy.