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September 2024 (published: 09.09.2024)
Number 3(58)
Home > Issue > The concept of human capital is relevant today and rejected in the past
Shapiro N.A., Prihodko R.V.
The paper provides a description of the concept of human capital as one of the most relevant and in-demand concepts today. For comparison with it, a historical and theoretical reconstruction of the idea of immaterial goods and immaterial capitals of Russian economists in the first half of the 19th century, which were forgotten and rejected by the end of this century, is presented. The authors of the paper consider Russian ideas about non-material goods as a prototype of the modern theory of human capital, and offer possible options explaining the reasons for the lack of due attention to this concept in the Russian academic community. Further, the modern concept of human capital and intangible goods is compared, their common features and differences are noted. Focusing on the metamodern approach, the following are shown: the gap between what and how it was previously imagined, what problems the concept faces today, and what should be studied on the basis of existing instruments or concepts, what still needs to be done. The authors' conclusion is that the idea of intangible goods was a guess, and the concept of human capital is a reflection of reality. The concepts arose in different historical periods and their differences from each other are explained by the level of economic development, its demand for scientific knowledge and the role of education in society. Answering the question of what the modern concept can learn from the historical one, the original general cultural purpose of non-material goods and the purely economic purpose of investment in education are pointed out. However, the trends in the spread of the human capital concept indicate its general cultural and interdisciplinary prospects. Scientific novelty consists in clarifying a number of theoretical positions of the concept of non-material goods and the results of comparison with the concept of human capital.
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Keywords: economic thought of Russia in the 19th century, immaterial goods, human capital, hypothesis, reflection, metamodernism, multidisciplinarity.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
UDC 330.83; 331.28,29
The concept of human capital is relevant today and rejected in the past
The paper provides a description of the concept of human capital as one of the most relevant and in-demand concepts today. For comparison with it, a historical and theoretical reconstruction of the idea of immaterial goods and immaterial capitals of Russian economists in the first half of the 19th century, which were forgotten and rejected by the end of this century, is presented. The authors of the paper consider Russian ideas about non-material goods as a prototype of the modern theory of human capital, and offer possible options explaining the reasons for the lack of due attention to this concept in the Russian academic community. Further, the modern concept of human capital and intangible goods is compared, their common features and differences are noted. Focusing on the metamodern approach, the following are shown: the gap between what and how it was previously imagined, what problems the concept faces today, and what should be studied on the basis of existing instruments or concepts, what still needs to be done. The authors' conclusion is that the idea of intangible goods was a guess, and the concept of human capital is a reflection of reality. The concepts arose in different historical periods and their differences from each other are explained by the level of economic development, its demand for scientific knowledge and the role of education in society. Answering the question of what the modern concept can learn from the historical one, the original general cultural purpose of non-material goods and the purely economic purpose of investment in education are pointed out. However, the trends in the spread of the human capital concept indicate its general cultural and interdisciplinary prospects. Scientific novelty consists in clarifying a number of theoretical positions of the concept of non-material goods and the results of comparison with the concept of human capital.
Read the full article
Keywords: economic thought of Russia in the 19th century, immaterial goods, human capital, hypothesis, reflection, metamodernism, multidisciplinarity.
DOI 10.17586/2310-1172-2024-17-3-3-13