Founder of the theory of factors of production France. Theories of factors of production

The material basis of any production is the resources that society has at the moment.

Under production resources commonly understood a set of values ​​that can be directed to the production of tangible and intangible benefits.

Resources represent the potential of production, i.e. may be involved in it. The resources actually involved in the production process are production factors. It follows that the concept of "resources of production" is broader than the concept of "factors of production".

In the economic literature, there are other definitions of factors of production:

Factors of production - a particularly important element or object that has a decisive impact on the possibility and effectiveness of production;

Factors of production - all that, participating in the production process, produces goods and services.

There are different approaches to the definition of factors of production and their classification. It should be noted that the existing differences in the interpretation of individual production factors by different scientific schools predetermined differences in the interpretation of the entire set of production factors.

classical theory identifies three factors of production: labor, land, capital.

Marxist theory identifies two groups of factors: real factors (objects of labor and means of labor, which together are the means of production) and private factor (labor force).

Marginalist theory identifies four groups of factors: land, labor, capital, entrepreneurial activity.

The considered classification of factors of production is not frozen, given once and for all. In the economic theory of post-industrial society, informational and environmental factors are also distinguished as factors of production. At the same time, the environmental factor plays an increasingly important role, since it acts either as an impetus for economic growth or as a limiter of its capabilities due to harmfulness, gas contamination, pollution, etc.

As can be seen, these classifications of factors of production differ in a number of positions: in terms of their role in production, entrepreneurial activity, land and natural conditions; according to the social orientation and results of the functioning of production, its factors. If the class approach is more typical for Marxist theory, then for the main directions of modern economic thought - a technical, economic, historical approach.

It seems appropriate to highlight in more detail the differences in the interpretation of individual factors of production by different scientific areas.

Labor - This is the process of spending by a person of his physical, mental and nervous energy (intellectual and physical activity), aimed at the production of goods and the provision of services. Labor is the consumption of labor power - the ability to work. The totality of a person's abilities: education, vocational training, skills, health - form human capital, investments in which are considered the most effective. The higher the income from this capital, the higher the human capital, i.e. the more skilled the work.

In Marxist theory, labor during the working day is conditionally divided into necessary and surplus. This division is connected with the concept of economic coercion to work, which is characteristic of the capitalist economic system. Economic coercion is connected, in turn, with the category of hired labor, for the emergence of which two conditions are necessary: ​​the personal freedom of a person and the absence of the means of production necessary for him to carry out his own business. Under these conditions, man's labor power becomes a commodity, and he is forced to take a job in order to earn a livelihood. Necessary is the labor that the worker expends in order to produce the products necessary to ensure the life of himself and his family. The product produced at this time is called essential and is paid for by the employer. Surplus labor is the labor expended during the working day in excess of the necessary. The product produced by surplus labor is called surplus and is not paid.

Unlike other factors of production, labor has features, the main of which is that labor is inseparable from a person, his labor force and therefore has a social and political aspect. This circumstance determines the different approaches of economists to its study. Thus, Western economists consider labor to be a commodity, in contrast to the Marxist theory, which asserts that a commodity is not a person's labor, but his labor power, that is, a person's ability to work. In various classifications of factors of production, labor has a different place among other factors of production. So, in the classical theory, labor is in first place among other factors, and in the marginalist theory, it is in second place (the first place is given to the “land” factor).

Earth is a natural factor and acts as a universal means of production. The term "land" is used in a broad sense of the word. It covers everything useful that is given by nature: natural resources, forests, arable land, water resources, mineral deposits. Land is a resource used for the production of agricultural products, for the construction of houses, cities, factories, factories, railways, mining. From the point of view of agricultural production, land can be divided into natural, i.e. given by nature itself, and artificially created thanks to irrigation, melioration, fertilization, etc. This circumstance affects the income from the land - land rent. In the classical theory, the factor "land" is in second place after "labor", while the marginal theory assigns this factor the first place among other factors of production.

The next factor of production is capital. Under the factor "capital" understand the material and financial resources used in the production process.

Different economic schools treat capital differently. The following concepts can be noted:

The material or naturalistic concept (A. Smith, D. Riccardo, A. Marshall, P. Samuelson), which defines capital as a means of production or finished goods intended for sale;

Monetary, or monetarist concept (D. Keynes and others), interpreting capital as money that brings interest, and also used to purchase the necessary components of the production process.

A more complete definition of capital is contained in Marxist theory. K. Marx explores, on the one hand, the essence of capital, and on the other, the specific forms of its manifestation. These forms are: means of production, labor, money, goods. However, neither the means of production nor money, in his opinion, are capital in themselves. They turn into capital only when they are used to appropriate the unpaid labor of others.

The Marxist understanding of the essence of the category "capital" is characterized by the following provisions:

Capital is not a thing, but a certain social relation, which is represented in a thing and gives this thing a specific social character;

Capital can be understood as the constant movement of its elements. It is only when it is in motion that money turns into capital;

Capital is value that brings surplus value, or self-increasing value.

Another factor of production allocated by the marginalist direction is entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurial activity - a specific factor of production, was first identified in the 70s of the XIX century by A. Marshall as an "organization" and later called "entrepreneurship" by J. Schumpeter.

Entrepreneurial activity is an initiative, independent activity of citizens and their associations, aimed at making a profit (or entrepreneurial income), carried out on their own behalf, at their own peril and risk, under their own property responsibility or on behalf and under the responsibility of a legal entity.

This activity involves entrepreneurial ability as a special type of human capital, which consists in organizing the combination of factors of production to create goods and services that generate income and satisfy personal and social needs, in terms of its scale and results, it is equated to the costs of highly skilled labor.

Without the use of factors of production and the receipt of income as a result, the activities of enterprises and organizations are impossible. The use of each type of production factor brings a certain type of income, the so-called factor income . So, using the factor "Earth" generates income in the form rent , factor a "work" - income in the form wages , factor a "capital" - income in the form percent, and factor "entrepreneurial activity" - income in the form arrived. The measure of profitability of each of the factors in specific economic conditions is one of the central problems of modern economic science, which is actually the science of the profitability of production factors. But since in market conditions each factor is represented by its owner, production becomes the result of production relations between the owners of the factors of production. Therefore, economic science does not clarify the factors of production themselves, but the economic relations associated with their movement.

1. Production function, its properties. Law of diminishing marginal productivity

An important role in the implementation of the problem of economic choice is played by the use of the production function. The production function describes the technological relationship between the volume of output and the costs of production factors, as well as the relationship between costs. production function shows the maximum amount of output that can be produced with a given amount of resource use.

Production is possible only when all factors of production are introduced into the production process. In real life, the manufacturer seeks to find the optimal combination of production factors in order to obtain the highest yield. The ratio between any set of factors of production and the maximum possible volume of output produced with this volume of factors characterizes the production function. If we assume that the output Q is produced using only two factors of production - labor L and capital K, then the production function can be described as follows:

Q=f(L,K),

where Q is the maximum output;

L- labor costs;

K - capital costs;

f is the form of the production function.

If the independent variables are the costs, then the production function is called the output function, but if the output is fixed, then the production function is the cost function. Most often, for aggregated analysis and forecasting, the production function is used in the form of a power-law relationship between the volume of production Q and production factors in the form of labor L and capital K. (The Cobb-Douglas function, which was first built in 1928 for the US manufacturing industry for the period 1899- 1922 and bears the name of its authors C. Cobb and P. Douglas):

, where

The maximum volume of production for given factors of production;

– constant coefficient (proportionality or scale);

The exponents that characterize the return and use of each of the two main factors (coefficients of elasticity of output for labor and capital).

If , then the volume of output increases exactly as much as the costs of labor, capital and materials increase, there is a constant return to scale, and the Cobb-Douglas function in this case is homogeneous.

If , then the enterprise will obtain economies of scale, indicating that the efficiency of production factors increases in the context of technological progress.

If , there will be diminishing returns to scale.

In doing so, you need to pay attention to the following points:

There is a limit to the increase in output that can be achieved by increasing the cost of one resource, other things being equal;

There is a certain interchangeability of factors of production without reducing production (for example, you can replace one excavator with 15 workers with shovels, or vice versa).

The production function has the following properties.

1. Property of complementarity. Complementarity means that the factors of production are complementary. For the production of any product, a certain set of factors is used, the absence of at least one of them makes production impossible. This means that the production function becomes zero when one of the factors is zero:

f (O, K) = f (L, K) = O.

In addition, there is interchangeability of factors in a certain proportion, which is due not only to the specific needs and design features of the product, but also to the limited resources, on the one hand, and the efficiency of their use, on the other. Interchangeability does not mean the possibility of completely eliminating any factor from the production process, since in any case, land is needed on which the production process, equipment and labor of workers will be organized.

2. Property of additivity. Additivity reflects the fact that the union of two groups of factors ( , ) and (L 2 , K 2) gives at least the same volume of production as when these two groups of factors are used separately:

3. Property of divisibility. Divisibility means that any production process can be carried out on a reduced scale. For example, if the number of workers and the amount of capital are halved, output will be reduced by no more than half:

This property is typical for the production function at the level of an industry or the national economy, but it is not applicable to small enterprises, where production activity is either impossible or inefficient at a decreasing scale.

A number of important characteristics of production are associated with the production function. First of all, they include indicators of productivity (productivity) of resources that characterize the volume of the product produced per unit of each type of resource expended. Average product i-that resource is the ratio of the volume of production q to the volume of use of this resource x i.:

The marginal product is equal to the partial derivative of the production function with respect to the cost of the corresponding resource:

Both the average and marginal product are not constant, they change with the change in the costs of all resources. The general pattern to which various industries are subject is called law of diminishing marginal product: with an increase in the volume of costs of any resource at a constant level of costs of other resources, the marginal product of this resource decreases.

What causes a decrease in marginal product? Let us imagine an enterprise well equipped with various equipment, having sufficient area for the production process, provided with raw materials and various materials, but having a small number of workers. Against the background of other resources, labor is a kind of bottleneck, and, presumably, an additional worker will be used very rationally. Accordingly, the increase in production can be significant. If, while maintaining the previous levels of all other resources, the number of workers will be large, the labor of an additional worker will not be so well provided with tools, mechanisms, he may have little room for work, etc. Under these conditions, attracting an additional worker will not cause much increase in output. The more workers, the less the increase in output due to the involvement of an additional worker.

Similarly, the marginal product of any resource changes. Decreasing marginal product illustrates fig. 3, which is a plot of the production function assuming that only one factor is variable. Product Volume Dependence q from resource costs x i(in this example, the factor "labor" L) is expressed by a concave (convex upwards) function.

q- product volume

L - labor costs

Rice. 3. Decreasing marginal product

Some authors formulate law of diminishing marginal product otherwise: if the volume of consumption of a resource exceeds a certain level, then with a further increase in the consumption of this resource, its marginal product decreases. In this case, an increase in the marginal product is allowed for small volumes of resource consumption.

In addition, the technical characteristics of many types of resources are such that with excessive amounts of their use, the output of the product does not increase, but decreases, i.e., the marginal product turns out to be negative. With these effects taken into account, the graph of the production function takes the form of the curve in Fig. 4, which has three sections:

1 - the marginal product increases, the function is convex;

2 - marginal product is decreasing, the function is concave;

3 - marginal product is negative, the function is decreasing.

Rice. 4. Three segments of the production function curve

The points falling on section 3 correspond to technically inefficient production options and are therefore of no interest. The corresponding range of resource costs is called non-economic. To economic area refer to the area of ​​change in resource costs, where with the growth of resource costs, the output of the product increases. On fig. 4 are plots 1 and 2 .

The factor of production can be land, a tractor, an excavator, nails, ore, thread, cotton, electricity, a factory building, a blast furnace, and much more. The production process is impossible without such an important factor as human labor.

Abstracting from the diversity of the natural form of factors of production, they can be grouped into enlarged categories. There are a number of scientific classifications, which will be discussed further.

The most simple and obvious is the division of factors of production into personal and material-material ones, adopted in the theory of Marxism. Personal, of course, include people with their knowledge, experience, production skills. It is the person who is the initiator, organizer and active participant in the production process. All the rest, namely, material and material resources, are most often called means of production, since with their help a person produces the benefits that interest him. Collectively, people with their knowledge and experience and the means of production set in motion by them constitute the productive forces of society.

The classification of factors of production is important not in itself, but in terms of revealing the role of these factors in the production and distribution process. Thus, Marx argued that all factors are equally important for the production of a natural product. However, they play a very different role in the value creation process. Only labor power is capable of creating new value. The means of production can only transfer to the product the value they themselves possess.

Unlike Marx, Smith and Ricardo did not distinguish between the process of producing commodities in their natural form and the process of creating the value of commodities.

As for the question of the distribution of the income of society, then, according to the theory of Marxism, labor creates not only the equivalent of its own value, which underlies wages, but also surplus value, due to which profit and rent are formed.

The vision of this problem by the classics of English political economy was different. A. Smith believed that "every person who receives his income from a source belonging to him personally, should receive it either from his labor, or from his capital, or from his land." However, at the same time, he emphasized the dominant nature of labor as a source of the nation's wealth and the basis of the cost of goods: "Labor determines the value not only of that part of the price (commodity) that accounts for wages, but also those parts that fall on rent and profit." In other words, "the worker does not always own the entire product of his labor. In most cases he must share it with the owner of the capital who employs him." Also, the worker "must give back to the landowner a part of what his labor collects or produces."

At the beginning of the XIX century. the theories of Smith and Ricardo were largely vulgarized. The productivity theory of factors of production by the French economist J. B. Say has gained particular fame. Say's theory is not limited to the allocation of three factors of production. He substantiates the thesis that all factors are equally involved in the formation of value and income in society. Consequently, each factor receives the product of its labor in accordance with its productivity.

The English economists J. Mill and McCulloch "expanded" Say's triune formula. They proposed to extend the concept of "labor" to the functioning of machinery and equipment (labor of capital), to the biological processes of growth of agricultural plants (labor of nature). From this premise, a logical conclusion is drawn that each factor of production receives income in accordance with its "labor".

The theory of factors of production was further developed in the works of the American scientist J. Clark. Clark supplemented Say's theory with the theory of diminishing productivity of factors of production and, on this basis, determined the specific amount of income received by each factor.

According to Clarke's theory, each factor has some marginal productivity, according to which its market price is determined. Realizing the factor of production belonging to him in the resource market, everyone receives his factor income in accordance with the marginal productivity of the factor: the worker receives wages for his labor, the landowner receives land rent, the owner of capital receives profit. Thus, there is no room for exploitation in factor productivity theory. The distribution of income is carried out through market pricing of factors of production in accordance with the principles of equivalent exchange.

Say's theory of factors of production has become widespread in Western economic thought. In one form or another, it is present in all Economics textbooks. One of the most important modern additions to this theory is that a special fourth factor of production stands out - entrepreneurial abilities and skills.

Much attention is paid to this factor, in particular, by the well-known American economist J. Galbraith. Strictly speaking, entrepreneurship can be interpreted as one of the varieties of labor activity in general. However, the allocation of entrepreneurial abilities to an independent category is due to the important and dominant role that entrepreneurship plays in economic life today.

Moreover, now more and more often they talk about the need to highlight several more factors that have acquired great importance. This is primarily an information factor, without which modern production is unthinkable, and, of course, an environmental factor, the importance of which is dictated by the increased reverse effect of production on nature.

It should be noted that in no economic concept, money as such, shares, bonds are classified as economic resources. Indeed, neither money nor securities are directly involved in the creation of any product or service. At the same time, both in journalism and in everyday life, the identification of money and securities with capital has become commonplace. Capital is no less traditionally associated with economic resources. Thus, the attitude to money and stocks as factors of production, which they are not, is fixed in the mass consciousness.

the concept of productivity in political economy, based on the identification of the processes of value creation and its distribution among the individual agents of capitalist commodity production (the so-called factors of production). Originated in the first half of the 19th century. on the basis of the collapse of classical political economy. It had two varieties, linking the creation of value, a component of income (interest on capital, wages and land rent), or with the functioning of three factors of production - capital, interpreted as a means of production, labor and land (the most prominent representative is J.B. Say ), or with subjective "victims" of the owners of factors of production (the "abstinence" theory of N.W. Senior, the "delay" theory of F. Bastiat). T.f.p. acted as a forerunner of theories of marginal utility marginal productivity, imputation.

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