Whether the person is active in economic relations. Economic man - a brief description

Manufacturers? Why do people use credit? Is it good to live in debt? How can we ensure that our expenses do not exceed our income?

This paragraph concludes the chapter "Man and the Economy", building on the previous material and generalizing it to a certain extent.

From the materials of § 1, you learned about the main types of human activity in the economy - production, distribution, exchange, consumption. Production is the basis of the economy, a means of solving it main task- Creation of wealth to meet the needs of people. Therefore, the fulfillment of the role of a producer by a person was the subject of consideration of almost all paragraphs of the chapter. Not only producers, but also consumers are actively involved in solving the key problem for society in the efficient use of limited resources. Starting to consider the rules of rational behavior used by the main participants in the economy, we will try to pay much more attention to the consumer.

Recall what it means to behave rationally . rational behavior - this is, first of all, thoughtful behavior, involving a comparison of the results of actions with costs.

RATIONAL CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Production is organically connected with consumption, it is carried out for consumption and determines its structure. In turn, the consumer, choosing goods and services, actively influences production, stimulating its development. The impact of consumers on producers in a free market and competition is so great that sometimes they even talk about "dictatorship of the consumer."

Consumers - these are those who purchase and use goods, order works and services for personal household needs, not related to making a profit. Each of us is a consumer, wanting to satisfy our needs in some way. The consumer is a firm, an organization, the state as a whole.

Purpose of the consumer - extract the maximum utility from the consumption of goods and services. On the way to this goal, the consumer encounters such restrictions as family budget, prices, assortment of offered goods and services. Therefore, the consumer, like the manufacturer, is affected by limited opportunities. He also faces the problem of rational choice.

In countries with a command economy, the actions of the consumer, as a rule, are regulated. In the USSR, for example, the consumer was deprived of the freedom to choose housing, medical institutions, and some expensive goods (cars, furniture, etc.). In a market economy, freedom of economic behavior predetermines the sovereignty of the consumer, i.e., the right of the owner of any kind of resources to independently make decisions related to the disposal of these resources and their use.

Remember the diverse needs of a person: physiological, social, spiritual, needs for self-realization, security. These needs can be realized in different types of markets. For example, the need for goods and services - in the market of goods and services, the need for self-realization - in the labor market. In order to competently and rationally carry out consumer choice, everyone must have certain knowledge and skills.

A consumer who is interested in meeting his needs with the least expenditure of limited funds has to think about the following questions: what to spend his income on in the first place? How to choose a product or service of the desired quality and corresponding to its purchasing capabilities? How to reduce financial losses? How to save existing income? How to behave rationally in different markets?

Consider these questions on the example of consumer behavior in the market of goods and services. The consumer is one of the main actors in this market, he creates demand, through which the assortment, quality and price of goods are determined. But is it really that strong in this market? How to choose the right product? Quite often, consumer information about a product is limited to knowledge about its function or intended use. positive effect from its use.

Let's say you want to buy a modern washing machine. Where to begin? Need to evaluate the market this product. First of all, study advertisements: what is the range of goods, where and at what price can you buy it. Then choose a specialized store where you can get information about the properties of 5 - 11596 Bogolyubov, 11 cells. 129 and the quality of the goods from a qualified specialist (merchant specialist, manager). You should be interested in the store where the goods are sold with the maximum warranty period, delivery and installation, and post-warranty service are provided. Do not forget to pay attention to announcements about sales days, discounts on goods. An analysis of all factors will help you make a rational, that is, with the greatest benefit for yourself, purchase.

As you can see, the rational behavior of the consumer when choosing a product or service usually involves a certain sequence of actions: awareness of the need to purchase, search for information about the product or service, evaluation of possible purchase options, making a purchase decision.

So you've made your choice. But can we always buy what we want? Alas, often we come across such a limiter of our opportunities as the level of available income.

You already know that a person can earn income from several different sources. The main sources of consumer income are wages, state social payments to individual citizens in the form of allowances, pensions, scholarships, income from entrepreneurial and other activities, income from property (payment received for renting your apartment or cottage, interest on money capital, dividends on securities).

In many households, the income received is divided into two parts: one is for the purchase of goods and services necessary to meet the personal needs of people; the other part of the income is savings. This division does not depend on the forms and sources of income, but depends on its size. The more income a consumer earns, the a large amount money he can spend on consumption. As income increases, so does the amount of savings. These dependencies are obvious. But economists have established other dependences of income and expenses: the higher the family income, the lower the share of expenditures on food and more on durable goods, and also more specific gravity savings.

The standard of living of a person depends not only on the size of his wages or savings, but also on how wisely he spends money. Economists divide consumer spending into mandatory and optional. Mandatory expenses can be considered as the minimum necessary - these are the costs of food, clothing, transportation costs, payment utilities etc. If your personal income does not exceed the mandatory expenses, then you can hardly afford arbitrary expenses (for example, for a tourist voucher, purchase of books, paintings, cars, etc.).

Analyzing data on consumer spending in different countries, scientists concluded: the richer the country, the less part of the personal income of its citizens goes to for obligatory expenses . The German statistician E. Engel (1821 -1896) was the first to establish a natural relationship between the income of the population and the structure of consumption. According to Engel's Law, the higher the income level of a family, the lower the share of its expenditures on food products. Accordingly, the demand for industrial consumer goods increases, and with a further increase in income levels, the costs of high-quality goods and services increase significantly. As we can see, the structure of consumption expenditures changes in direct proportion to the size of income.

According to the share of family expenses on food, one can judge the level of well-being of different groups of the population of one country and compare the well-being of citizens of different countries. In the US, the share of spending on food varies between 10-15%, and a significant number of Russian families spend on food from 40 to 48% of their income. (Think about how the economic situation in the country affects this indicator.)

Spend money today or save for the future? How to save and increase your income? These questions concern all consumers, whether it be a family or a company.

It is important for a rational consumer not only to spend money skillfully, but also to place their savings correctly. For these purposes, the consumer uses a savings account in a bank, receiving income from a deposit, or acquires securities(stocks, bonds), receiving dividends on them. (Note that the above is true in conditions of economic stability.)

Another reliable way to allocate savings, especially in a situation of economic and financial instability in the country, with a high level of inflation, is the purchase of real estate (apartment, house, cottage), the prices of which are growing faster than money is depreciating.

The form of placement of savings is also life, health, property insurance. Today in Russia there is a growing number of insurance companies and funds (mostly commercial) that carry out the following types insurance: voluntary health insurance, accident insurance, business risk insurance, auto insurance, etc. Insurance is beneficial for both the producers of this service and its consumers.

Insurance means protecting you from possible damage by making periodic contributions to insurance companies that pay you money in the event of such damage. Let's consider this situation on a concrete example.

Suppose you live and relax in the summer in a village built up with the same type of garden houses. The average price of a house is 120 thousand rubles. From the practice of past years, it is known that, on average, once a year, a fire destroys one house. This allows the insurance company to calculate how much money the victim will need to pay in the event of a fire (in our case, up to 120 thousand rubles), and add to them some amount to cover administrative costs and profits (for example, another 30 thousand). Received total amount(150 thousand rubles) is divided among all the owners of houses, and each contributes his share, or insurance premium, to general fund(if there are 100 owners, then each pays 1.5 thousand rubles). In the event of a fire, the owner of the burned-out house will receive compensation from the insurance company (up to 120 thousand rubles), and the company will receive profit. Thus, sharing the risk of possible damage with other people through insurance gives the consumer the opportunity to protect himself from financial losses.

Savings, if properly placed, allow the consumer not only to have additional income but also to make expensive purchases; savings are also necessary in case of disability, payment for education and professional development, etc. (Give examples of savings in household confirming their necessity.)

When choosing options for the placement of savings, the consumer needs to compare them in terms of reliability, interest on income, liquidity (the possibility of easy conversion of savings into cash).

RATIONAL BEHAVIOR OF THE MANUFACTURER

Manufacturers - these are people, firms, enterprises, i.e. all those who manufacture and sell us goods and provide services. What the manufacturer receives by selling his product is called his revenue or gross income. What the producer spends on acquiring production resources forms his costs, or costs. The difference between income and costs is profit.

Purpose of the producer in a market economy - get as much profit as possible. To do this, he seeks to reduce production costs, because the lower the costs, the higher the profit. Cost reduction is facilitated by a more economical combination of resources, implementation of new technology, saving raw materials and energy and much more. The problem of limited production resources forces an individual manufacturer, firm, society as a whole to solve problems of what, how and for whom to produce.

What to produce? Producers decide how to allocate resources between the production of different products; which of the goods necessary for society and consumers at a given moment in time to produce and in what quantity; whether to prioritize, for example, the production of military equipment or household equipment.

How to produce? The production of the selected volume of products can be carried out in different ways. You can cultivate the land, harvest the crops manually, attracting a significant number of workers, or get by with a smaller number of them, using agricultural machinery. The use of new equipment and technology can provide a greater volume of products with the use of available resources. However, the manufacturer should remember that this is beneficial only if the income from the use of new equipment and technology exceeds the costs associated with their implementation.

For whom to produce? Since society brings people together with different incomes, with different purchasing power, manufacturers have to decide which segments of society to focus on in the production of goods and services, who will be their potential consumer.

Revealing ways of efficient use of resources, economic science proceeds from the rational behavior of economic entities, that is, their desire to achieve a certain result at the lowest cost.

The rational organization of economic activity requires the manufacturer to address a number of issues: how, with limited resources, to achieve the goals of their production? How to combine production resources so that costs are minimal? How to increase the volume of output with available resources?

So, to solve the last problem, as we noted earlier, there are two ways: to expand the volume of production due to a quantitative change in resources (increase production capacity, the number of used natural resources, numbers employed workers) and by improving the qualitative characteristics of resources, improving their productivity or productivity.

Most countries today, faced with the problem of depletion of raw materials or their rise in price, focus on the second way to expand the frontiers of production possibilities. This leads to an increase in labor productivity. Recall that this economic indicator the efficiency of the use of production resources is characterized by the quantity of products produced per unit of time by one worker.

Factors that determine the growth of labor productivity, at the same time can be considered as factors for increasing the volume of output. What are these factors?

First of all, this is the division of labor, or the specialization of producers in any type of activity. In the execution of a single product or a small operation, a worker can become a virtuoso, and as a result his productivity increases.

Technological progress as a factor involves the use of new, more productive equipment or technology in production, which allows increasing the volume of production over the same period of time, as a rule, with a smaller number of employees.

And finally, the level of education and training of workers. Skilled labor is more productive not only because it contributes to the production of more products. The higher the level of professional skills of workers, the higher the quality of manufactured products, which means that it is stronger, more durable, which will save resources associated with its production and switch them to the manufacture of other economic benefits.

The scientist of the Brooklyn Institute (USA) Edward Denisov: made an attempt to quantitatively correlate the impact of various factors of increasing labor productivity on the growth of production volumes. According to his estimates, 28% of the increase in real national income in the period from 1929 to 1982 in the United States occurred due to technical progress, 19% - due to capital expenditures (the use of material and Money for the organization of production), 14% - due to the growth of educational and professional training of workers.

PRACTICAL CONCLUSIONS

1 The consumer's ability to satisfy his needs for goods and services as much as possible depends not only on the amount of income, but also on their rational use. Try to plan your purchases. This will allow you to better understand your needs and eliminate what you can do without at the moment. Compare the conditions offered by manufacturers and the possibility of acquiring the necessary goods and services.

2 If possible, set aside a portion of your income as savings. Try to place them in such a way that you get the most benefit from it, i.e. contribute to their growth. Remember that to keep savings in cash during the period high inflation irrationally. If the inflation rate is higher interest rates, then it will destroy all the income received from savings.

H When choosing the type of savings, try to accumulate and analyze information about the profitability and liquidity of the place and methods of savings ( Bank loan, securities, investments). This will help you make sure that those you want to trust with your money are competent and reliable.

4 In the long run, you can help keep your production profitable by using various ways to reduce costs: the introduction of technical innovations and modern technologies, saving raw materials and materials, improving their professional skills.

DOCUMENT

How to manage your capital. From the work of the Scottish economist A. Smith "A Study on the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations".

When a man's stocks do not exceed just enough to keep him for a few days or weeks, he seldom thinks of extracting any income from them.... In this case, his income is derived exclusively from his labor ... If, however, this person possesses reserves sufficient to support it for several months or years, it naturally tries to extract income from the greater part of these reserves. Therefore, stocks are divided into two parts. That part from which he expects to receive a return is called capital. The other part is the one that goes to direct consumption...

Capital can be used by two different ways to deliver income, or profit, to its owner. Firstly, it can be used for the production, processing or purchase of goods for the purpose of resale at a profit ... This kind of capital is properly called working capital. Secondly, capital may be employed in the improvement of the land, in the purchase of useful machinery and tools, or other articles which yield income or profit without passing from one owner to another, or without further circulation. Such capitals can be called fixed capitals.

That part of the farmer's capital which is expended on agricultural implements is fixed capital, and that which is used for the wages and maintenance of his laborers will be circulating capital. He profits from the former by keeping it in his possession, and from the latter by parting with it.

In all countries where there is a sufficiently stable order, every man of common sense tries to use the reserves at his disposal in order to obtain for himself the satisfaction of his needs in the present or profit in the future.

1. What types of income of citizens does the text of the document introduce?
2. The author offers the owners of capital ways to receive income, or profits. Name these ways.
3. What part of income is capital? How working capital different from the main one?
4. The scientist believed that "sustainable order" is a necessary condition for the extraction of each person, "possessing common sense", income from existing savings. Is it possible to agree with him? Describe the conditions in modern Russian economy stimulating or hindering the ability of consumers and producers to earn income from their capital.
5 . How to maintain and increase your income? Formulate your proposals.

SELF-CHECK QUESTIONS

1 What economic problems have to be solved in conditions of limited resources by a rational producer and consumer?
2. Can you protect your income from inflation? If yes, how?
3 . How to spend money rationally? How are mandatory expenses different from optional expenses?
4 . What factors affect labor productivity?
5 . By what means can the volume of production be increased with the limited resources available?

TASKS

1 Technological progress affects the change in production costs and the profit of the manufacturer. Give examples of the use of scientific and technological progress in modern production as a factor in increasing labor productivity.

Man is an extremely complex being. The essential features of a person are not a permanent given at birth. They are acquired by a person in the process of his life, through communication with the external objective world.

The quality of a person, her abilities in the general dimension is the result of a combination of three factors: biological (inclinations), social (social environment and upbringing) and mental (inner "I" of a person, his will, etc.).

In the dialectical interaction of the biological and social aspects of a person, the ability to use natural and economic laws in their activities, lies the deep essence of a person as biosocial being.

Man is studied by many sciences, including economics, which studies economic essence man, his place and role in the economic system, needs, interests, economic behavior, that is, economic man (Homo ekonomicus).

economic man- the main creative subject market economy who has freedom of choice and makes economically rational and optimal decisions, taking into account all available opportunities and conditions, according to his personal interests, goals and priorities.

At all stages of the development of society, man was at the center of all economic processes and phenomena. In the economic system, a person acts as a producer, as a subject of economic relations, as a consumer, as a carrier of the ultimate goal of social production.

Producer man in the economic system acts as a labor force, personal factor production, the main element of the productive forces.

Work force- is a combination of physical and mental abilities of a person, his ability to work.

In historical terms, the man-producer has gone through a stage in his development. individual (sole) employee and stage the total worker.

In the early stages of the development of society, when the social division of labor and economic ties (subsistence farming and small-scale production) were still insufficiently developed, when things were made from beginning to end by one worker, the latter acted as individual worker.

Later, as the social division of labor deepened, specialization and production cooperation developed, the labor of each worker became part of the total labor, and the individual worker became part of the total worker.

Aggregate worker- this is a set of workers of various specialties who are participants in the joint production of a certain product on the basis of the division of labor between them.

The level of development of the total labor force can be characterized by the following quantitative and qualitative indicators.

In the context of the development of scientific and technological progress, the requirements for the level of training of workers are growing. Without a constant increase in the level of education, qualifications, culture, health promotion, and the development of psychological stability, workers are not able to effectively interact with other progressive elements of the productive forces - new equipment, advanced technologies, management systems and production organization. Therefore, in a modern developed society, investments in "human capital", that is, in the development of knowledge, abilities, in strengthening human health, are considered the most effective and humane investments.

Man as a subject of economic relations. An economic person realizes himself in the economic system due to certain economic relations that it enters into with other subjects in the process of production, distribution, exchange and consumption of goods.

Man as a consumer realizes itself through the satisfaction of its various needs. Human needs can be divided into the needs of the human worker and the needs of the human entrepreneur. The needs of a human worker associated with the reproduction of labor power, that is, with personal consumption. In the process of labor activity, a person spends labor power, which must be restored. To do this, she must have a set of goods and services to satisfy her physiological, spiritual and other needs. The needs of a human entrepreneur regarding the reproduction of material factors of production, i.e., production needs. In order to restore the machines, machine tools, equipment, raw materials, materials, fuel, electricity, etc. consumed in the production process, the entrepreneur must purchase them on the market for factors of production. The needs of a human worker and a human entrepreneur are closely intertwined, forming the general needs of people, the satisfaction of which ensures the restoration of personal and material factors of social production.

Man as the ultimate goal of social production. Man in his integral essence is the main criterion for the development of social production and its main goal. The social product, passing through the phases of production, distribution and exchange, completes its cycle in the phase of consumption. Without consumption, production cannot exist, it has no meaning. Satisfying the versatile needs of a person is the purpose of any production. In this aspect, a person with his own needs is the natural and ultimate goal of social production and at the same time the main factor in its functioning.

Thus, the functioning and development economic system it is impossible to evaluate outside the existence of a person, his labor activity, relationships, needs, interests, motivations.

Notes

1. The natural human body is an active factor in the formation of its essential features and properties. v biological in man - the human body with its structures and functions, the neurophysiological organization specific to man and the higher nervous activity inherent in it. Biological features human are transmitted from generation to generation, recorded in the genetic program, which is represented by DNA molecules. Certain personality substructures are also biologically determined, in particular temperament, individual character traits, sexual and age properties of the psyche, natural abilities.

2. Man like social being is a part of society, that is, lives in society, has multifaceted relationships with other people (economic, political, national, family), fulfills and obeys legal laws, observes certain moral norms and rules of social behavior adopted in society. Man as a social being is the subject of social, economic, political, moral and other relations.

3. Economic theory: Political Economy: Textbook / Zag. ed. V.D. Bazilevich. - K.: Znanie-Press, 2004. - 80-85. The success of production at all levels is determined primarily by the people involved in the production process. All other factors of production do not act by themselves, they are set in motion by man. Man, his labor has a central place in production, not only as the most active factor of production, but also as a source, creator of other factors of production - material, scientific, research and organizational and managerial.

In modern conditions, the main figure of economic life is not the individual, but the total worker, who is involved in the social production process thanks to the cooperation of labor. Now almost any product is the result of the labor of not one, but tens, hundreds and thousands of workers employed in various industries. The total worker is a new productive force of cooperative labor, capable of solving tasks that are beyond the power of the sum of isolated individual workers.

Man is an extremely complex being that combines the biological and the social.
As a biological phenomenon, man is a unique product of nature, a thinking being endowed with a combination of physical and mental abilities that allow him to interact with nature and live according to its laws.
A person as a social being acts as a part of society, lives in society, has multifaceted relationships with other people (economic, political, national, family), fulfills and obeys legal laws, observes certain moral norms and rules of social behavior accepted in society, etc. .e. is Homo sapiens. In the dialectical interaction of the biological and social aspects of a person, the ability to use natural and economic laws in their activities, lies the deep essence of a person as a biosocial being (Fig. 3.14).

Man is studied by many sciences, including economic science, which studies the economic essence of man, his place and role in the economic system, needs, interests, economic behavior, i.e. economic man (Homo economicus).
Economic man is the main creative subject of the market economy, who has freedom of choice and takes economically rational and optimal zeal, taking into account all available opportunities and conditions, according to his personal
interests, goals and priorities.

At all stages of the development of society, man was at the center of all economic processes and phenomena. In the economic system, a person acts as an employee, as a subject of economic relations, as a consumer, as a carrier of the ultimate goal of social production (Fig. 3.15).

The human worker in the economic system acts as a labor force.
Labor force is the ability of a person to work.
The success of production at all levels is determined primarily by the people involved in the production process. All other factors of production do not act by themselves, they are set in motion by man. Man, his labor, has a central place in production, not only as the most active factor of production, but also as a source, creator of other factors of production - tangible, research and organizational management.
In historical terms, the man-producer has passed in his development the stage of an individual (sole) worker and the stage of a collective worker.
In the early stages of the development of society, when the social division of labor was not yet sufficiently developed and

economic connections (in conditions of subsistence farming and small-scale production), when things were made from beginning to end by one worker, the latter acted as an individual worker.
In the future, as the social division of labor deepens, specialization and cooperation of production develop, the labor of each producer less and less acts as the individual labor of an independent, economically isolated commodity producer, but is part of the total labor, and the individual worker is part of the total worker.
The total worker is a set of workers of different specialties who are participants in the joint production of a certain product based on the division of labor between them.
In modern conditions, the main figure of economic life is not the individual, but the total worker, who is involved in the social production process thanks to the cooperation of labor. Nowadays, almost any economic good is the result of the work of not one, but tens, hundreds and thousands of workers employed in different areas production. A modern car is assembled on average from 15,000 parts, which are produced by thousands of employees of a huge number of large and small supplier enterprises. The American Boeing 748 aircraft consists of 4.5 million different parts, which are produced by the workers of 16 thousand companies.
The total worker is a new productive force of cooperative labor, capable of solving problems that are beyond the power of the sum of isolated individual workers.
The level of development of the total labor force can be characterized by certain quantitative and qualitative indicators (Fig. 3.16).
in the conditions of development of scientific and technological progress, the requirements for the level of training of workers are increasing. Without a constant increase in the level of education, cultural qualifications, health promotion, maintenance of psycho-

logical state, workers are not able to effectively interact with other progressive elements of the productive forces - new equipment, advanced technologies, management systems and production organization. Therefore, in a modern developed society, investments in "human capital", i.e., in the development of knowledge, abilities, in strengthening human health, are considered the most effective and humane investments.
In Ukraine on present stage the number of employees with higher professional education has become significant (Table 3.2). It is these workers who are the main

Table 3.2. The level of education of employees in Ukraine by type of economic activity (at the beginning of 2006)

the basis for the effective development of the economy and an important element of the national wealth of the country.
Man as a subject of economic relations
An economic person realizes himself in the economic system due to certain economic relations that he enters into with other subjects in the process of production, distribution, exchange and consumption of goods.
The subjects of economic relations are a separate individual, family, team, state. The basis of economic relations is property relations, which characterize the way the worker is connected to the means of production.
The organic combination of two characteristics of a person: a person-worker and a person-owner forms the economic essence of modern economic man.
The nature of a person is best met by individual private property, which forms as a whole a person-worker and a person-owner. It is the basis of his economic independence and freedom. Other forms of ownership (collective, cooperative, corporate, etc.) to a greater extent reflect the social and social essence of a person, reveal his place and role in society.
Today at developed countries In the world, corporate (associated) forms of ownership are becoming more widespread, which combine individual and collective principles of production management and income distribution.
The role of a person as a subject of economic relations also lies in the fact that objective economic laws are revealed and implemented through his economic activity.
Man as a consumer
In this role, a person realizes himself through the satisfaction of his various needs. Human needs can be

divided into the needs of the human worker and the needs of the human entrepreneur.
The needs of a human worker are connected with the reproduction of his labor power, that is, with personal consumption.
In the process of labor activity, a person spends labor power, which must be restored. To do this, he must have a set of economic benefits to satisfy his physiological, spiritual and other needs. Satisfying these needs, a person recreates himself as a worker.
The needs of a human entrepreneur are in the reproduction of material factors of production. In order to restore the machines, machine tools, equipment, raw materials, materials, fuel, electricity, etc. consumed in the production process, the entrepreneur must purchase them on the market of resources (factors of production).
The needs of a human worker and a human entrepreneur are closely intertwined, forming the general needs of people, the satisfaction of which ensures the restoration of personal and material factors of social production.
Man as the ultimate goal of social production
Man in his integral essence is the main criterion for the development of social production and its main goal. The social product, passing through the phases of production, distribution and exchange, completes its cycle in the phase of consumption. Without consumption, production cannot exist; it has no meaning. Satisfying the versatile needs of a person is the purpose of any production. In this aspect, a person with his own needs is the natural and ultimate goal of social production and at the same time the main factor in its functioning.
Thus, the functioning and development of any economic system cannot be assessed outside the existence of a person, his labor activity, interrelations,
needs, interests, motivations. Man is the central element of the economy, an active participant economic activity as an employee, as well as as a consumer subject entering into economic relations for the production and consumption of vital goods.

Lesson topic: Man in the system of economic relations.

What should a smart consumer know?

In unequal conditions with the seller (they are professionals. Their goal is to sell more and more expensive), the consumer (amateur) needs to know the basic norms of the law. In the Russian Federation there is a law "On the protection of consumer rights

The consumer has the right

for information; quality, safety, damages

in pairs, require each to provide the necessary and reliable information about the product

But back to the choice of our purchase. We have made a choice.

Can we always buy what we want?

Unfortunately no. Our actions limit our income.

2. Income and expenses.

Under the income of the populationis understood as the amount of money and material goods received or produced by households for a certain period of time. At the same time, income is the share of the subject in the GNP, which he inherited in the process of distribution and expression, mainly in monetary form.

Income structure

Income in kind- products produced by households for their own consumption

Cash income Includes: - wages, income from property ( rent, interest and money capital,dividends on shares) - social payments(pensions, scholarships, social benefits) - winnings, fees, inheritance

Types of income: nominal (accrued without taxes), real (on which we live); legal (received wages), illegal (earned by dishonest labor, criminal)

Their dynamics is different: nominal incomes can grow, while real ones can fall and vice versa. Why? (increase in the price of goods)

Each household has to constantly decide how much of the income to spend (i.e. consume) today, and how much to put aside for the future for an unforeseen event (in case of disability, payment for education, professional development, etc.). A certain part of the income is set aside in the form of savings.

Saving - income unspent on the purchase of goods and services within the framework of current consumption.

Savings are carried out by both the household (people), and firms, and countries.For example: the savings of our state is gold reserves countries (= $107 billion), stabilization fund.

In the conditions of economic and financial instability in the country with a high level of inflation, there is one reliable way to deposit savings for the consumer - this is the purchase of real estate (a flat, house, cottage), prices for which are growing faster than money is depreciating.

Economists divide consumer spending into:

compulsory free

(fixed - food, rent) ( variables - clothing, footwear, transport services, furniture, recreation, etc.)

For the most complete satisfaction of needs requires a clear planning of costs. If your personal income does not exceed mandatory expenses, then you can hardly afford arbitrary expenses.

Analyzing data on consumer spending in different countries, scientists concluded: the richer the country, the smaller part of the personal income of its citizens goes to obligatory expenses. The German researcher - statistician Ernest Engel (1821-1896) was the first to establish a natural relationship between the income of the population and the structure of consumption.

Engel's law says:

“As incomes grow, their share goes to the purchase of food decreases, and the part of income that is spent on the purchase of other goods and services that are non-essential products increases.”

With a further increase in income, the cost of high-paying goods and services increases. By the share of family expenses on food, one can judge the level of well-being of different groups of the population of one country and compare the well-being of citizens of different countries.

USA 10-15% France 12-15% RF 40-48%

Many people (especially young people) strive to find a well-paid job. There is competition among seekers. Who will be more competitive? There is an important feature in the labor market - this is the limit of the fall in the price of goods (labor), i.e.minimum wage ( minimum size wages)- Guaranteed minimum wage. It should be determined by the subsistence minimum - the minimum means necessary to live.

The cost of living is determined based on the average resident of the country and is calculated according to the so-called. consumer basket - the minimum set of industrial and food products and services necessary to ensure physical survival (= 300 items) The cost of living is so low that it is an object of satire. For many years, the satirical magazine "Wick" has been published on color television.

Many countries incl. and Russia legally determine the minimum wage and its obligation for all employers. Why? The market is cruel and does not know charity. To ensure the social stability of society, it is necessary for the state to support the poorest segments of the population. But in the conditions of the current economic situation in Russia, the minimum wage turned out to be lower living wage.

In the economic literature, the expression "beyond the poverty line" is often found. In Russia, it is generally accepted that the poverty line is at the level of 2 to 1 subsistence minimum, and poverty begins below.

To raise wages to equilibrium Russian government took a course to fight poverty, to improve the standard of living in the country.

What affects salary?Quality of work, qualification, labor productivity of the employee

There are several payment systems:

1) time wage(depending on the amount of time worked);

2) piecework salary (depends on the amount of work performed);

3) mixed (a combination of elements of time and piecework wages).

Pick an answer.

1) family budget;

2) an accumulation fund;

3) family savings;

4) pointless spending.

1) to mandatory;

2) to variables;

3) to utilities;

4) to the unreal.

1) physical minimum;

2) social minimum;

3) consumer basket;

Complete the sentences:

Test on the topic Man in the system of economic relations

Pick an answer.

1. The total income and expenses of the family are ...

1) family budget;

2) an accumulation fund;

3) family savings;

4) pointless spending.

2. Housing expenses include:

1) to mandatory;

2) to variables;

3) to utilities;

4) to the unreal.

3. The quantity of goods and services necessary for a normal life is determined by:

1) physical minimum;

2) social minimum;

3) for each person individually;

4) depending on the capabilities of social services.

4. Physical survival provides:

1) an arbitrary set of products;

2) assistance from charitable organizations;

3) consumer basket;

4) mutual assistance of members of the society.

Complete the sentences:

1. Family incomes are nominal and ...

2. Food expenses refer to…

3. The minimum set of food, non-food products and services that ensures the physical survival of a person is ...

Topic: Man in the system of economic relations

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University: VZFEI

Year and city: Barnaul 2008

Introduction.

The theme of this test is Man in the system of economic relations.

This topic is relevant today, since economic philosophy is part of the system of social philosophy and explores the economic life of society.

Therefore, I chose this topic in order to delve deeper into the nature of social life and analyze the essence of economic sphere life and development of society from a philosophical point of view.

The tasks of writing this control work are:

1. Generalization of the material on this issue.
2. Consideration of the philosophical and economic way of thinking of a person.
3. Disclosure of the dialectical interaction of the economic interests of people and their economic relations.
4. Find out whether it is necessary in modern Russian life moral-psychological economics and rehabilitation of labor values.

The object of research is economic relations.

The theoretical significance lies in the study of sources on this issue and the generalization of available information.

1. Philosophical and economic way of thinking.

To understand the essence of the economy and all the complexity of economic relations, it is necessary to first understand what underlies these relations. They are based on human needs: this is the core of all human activity and, above all, labor, and hence the economy. Need is the dependence of the subject on the external and internal conditions of his being, it is the vital nerve of a person, society and its economy: a factory needs raw materials, tools, an entrepreneur needs a customer, a customer needs to build a house. The life of society is permeated with the most complex fabric of needs and ways of satisfying them.

Already in ancient times, they came to understand the need to comprehend economic life. In Aristotle, this branch of knowledge was subjected for that time to a very deep essential analysis. He highlighted many aspects of economic life. Subsequently, in Newest time, there was a very important branch of scientific knowledge - political economy.

Political economy is a science that, from certain positions, shows economic relations and the movement of commodity and money supply in their qualitative and quantitative definiteness and interweaving. Its development reveals a system of factors, and in connection with this, the economic relations of people, finds in an infinite number of singularities that appear before it, certain principles and the laws that operate and govern the economic life of society. G. Hegel highly valued political economy, saying that it "does honor to thought."

Political economy was born under the sign of pragmatism, i.e. from quite practical motives, from the need to understand the complexity of the economic mechanism of the life of society. It is focused on the development of principles for the effective economic activity of labor collectives and individuals. Economic activity has the character of a struggle for life and precisely for a certain standard of living. Economic need is approaching us like an inexorable necessity, from which it is impossible to get away without leaving life itself. The economy initially gravitates over man and mankind.

The bright prospects of civilization are largely determined by how successfully social systems function in their interconnection, as a single whole, where each link works for the whole, and the whole stimulates the life-affirming power of the parts. What can be revealed in the thinnest web of socio-economic ties from a philosophical and economic point of view? What is the methodological role of philosophical culture in understanding socio-economic reality? Without economic education nowadays it is hardly possible to manage the affairs of the state. It's about not about professional knowledge modern economy in all its highly specialized problems, but at least about a general acquaintance with macroeconomics in its fundamental principles.

Economic philosophy is included in the system of social philosophy, constituting its essential part: it has its own special section of problems or threats to the economic life of society. To answer the question of what economic philosophy is as a philosophical doctrine, one must first understand what political economy is. Let us define it as a science that studies the laws, principles that govern the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of vital goods at various stages of human development.

Political economy proceeds from the point of view that in the economic sphere of society there are certain general needs, such as the need for food, clothing, etc., and the ways in which they are satisfied. There are both coincidences and patterns. Thus, the soil here or there is more fertile, the years differ in their yield, one person is industrious, another is lazy. But this overabundance of arbitrariness gives rise to a universal determination, and everything that seems scattered and devoid of thought is held back by necessity, which seeks out laws that operate in a mass of accidents.

Need, poverty, everyday need and the corresponding concepts of economic benefits, wealth, well-being are natural phenomena in which people's lives revolve, its questions and answers: need and need ask, and human labor and the usefulness of goods answer.

The economy is one of the most complex systems in the life of society: it includes a set of economic processes that take place in society on the basis of established property relations and organizational and legal forms.

The founder of political economy is the outstanding thinker A. Smith - the author of the fundamental work "Research on the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations". Here summarized the century-old development classical school political economy, substantiated the idea of ​​commodity production and exchange as a sphere of human activity that develops according to objective laws, and therefore does not need state regulation. In developing the doctrine of the market price, Smith deeply revealed its dependence mainly on production, on the conditions for the supply of goods on the market. However, he did not investigate the effect of buyer demand on price.

A continuation of the teachings of A. Smith is the theory of David Ricardo. His main work is The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. Unlike Smith, he did not believe that value is determined by labor only in the "primitive state of society." Value, according to Richard, underlies the income of various classes of bourgeois society: wages, profits, interest and rent. Capitalism, from his point of view, is the only possible and natural social system, and its economic laws are eternal.

Its further development economic doctrine found in the writings of Karl Marx. For 40 years he was engaged in writing his main work - "Capital". Here he developed the classical labor theory of value and the theory of surplus value. Grandiose in its plans and large-scale teachings of Marx received a mixed assessment. Thus, Professor P. Samuelson included Marx in a small galaxy of "intellectual giants" along with A. Smith, J. Keynson and other prominent scientists. Another eminent economist, V. Leontiev, advised: if anyone wants to know what really is profit, wages, capitalist enterprise, he can get more realistic and high-quality information in the volumes of Capital than in several textbooks on economics. Professor M. Blauch in his book “Economic Thought in Retrospect” stated: “Marx was reassessed, revised, refuted, he was buried a thousand times, but he resists every time they try to send him to the intellectual past. For better or worse, his ideas became integral part that world of ideas in which we all think. Such an assessment of the theoretical works of Marx, apparently, is not accidental.

Marx himself, believing that in capitalist countries political economy expresses the interests of the owners, he sought to place his version of political economy at the service of the interests of the working class. However, the class approach had a negative impact on the scientific objectivity of a number of statements and conclusions he expressed. Marx's teaching made it possible to discover irresolvable contradictions and a certain limitation of the entire classical direction of political economy.

So, on the one hand, the labor theory of value discovered the basic law of commodity production - the law of value, according to which the exchange of goods on the market takes place in accordance with the socially necessary labor time embodied in the products of labor of commodity producers. On the other hand, relying on this law, it is impossible to explain how prices are formed under the conditions of a capitalist market economy. Marx's colleague F. Engels admitted that the law of value operated within historically limited limits - from the moment commodity production arose until the 15th century, when the gradual transition to capitalism was accompanied by a revolution in pricing.

The production of surplus value, as Marx argued in Volume I of Capital, is based on the exploitation of the working class, on the private appropriation by capitalists of the unpaid labor of hired workers. But in Volume III of Capital, something completely different is noted: in all epochs of the development of civilization, the surplus product goes not only to the owners of the means of production, but also goes to the needs of the whole society, it forms the economic basis of all human civilization. Therefore, Marx strongly opposed the fact that even in the future society, the surplus product should go only to the workers.

Economic life is a social process in which people act both as direct actors in a particular economy and indirectly as "parts" of the general economic organism.

The connections of people that develop between them in the process of production form a complex structural-functional and hierarchically subordinated system; this system forms what is called the relations of production. It also covers relations with the means of production, i.e. the form of ownership, and the relationship between people in the process of exchange, distribution and consumption of the goods created, and the relations of people due to their industrial socialization, i.e. expressing the division of labor, and relations of cooperation and subordination - managerial relations, and all other relations in which people enter. In modern production, in which the management system plays an increasingly important role, relations that develop as a result of the selection and placement of personnel, taking into account their abilities, experience, interests and needs of the production itself, and personnel policy as a whole, acquire considerable importance. Thus, the system of economic relations is extremely extensive - from the individual relations of individual producers to the fundamental relationship to the means of production.

Political economy is one of the most complex areas of human knowledge. It is based on mathematics, especially probability theory, statistics, which gives this science additional accuracy and rigor in understanding the facts and their theoretical interpretation, focused on truth and its most effective practical implementation.

The exceptional importance of political economy is due to the fact that it has a world-unifying force in the life of all mankind. All of the above reveals the mystery of why philosophers have studied, analyzed and written about political economy, participating in its in-depth and generalizing understanding.

2. Economic relations and economic interests.

big role in economic life Societies play economic relations between people. From the perfection of economic relations depends not only the development of the mode of production, but also the social balance in society, its stability. Their content is directly related to the solution of the problem of social justice, when every person and social group gets the opportunity to use various kinds of social, depending on the social usefulness of their activities, its necessity for other people, society, the state, in particular, for the realization of their economic interests.

The economic interests of people act as direct manifestations of their economic relations. Thus, the economic interests of an entrepreneur and an employee are directly determined by their place in the system of economic relations between them. The interest of one is to obtain the maximum profit, the interest of the other is to sell their labor power more expensively and receive, possibly, a higher wage. The economic interests of the peasant, whether he is a farmer or a member of a collective farm, are also determined by his place in the system of existing economic relations. The same applies to employees - teachers, doctors, scientists, people employed in cultural institutions, etc. The content and direction of their economic interests are determined by the content of existing economic relations and their place in the system of these relations.

The economic interests of people act as the driving forces of their production activities. In the process of this activity, they seek to realize their interests, which are closely related to their needs, although they differ from them. As already mentioned, the needs of people are manifestations of an objective need to maintain the conditions of their life. These are their needs for food, warmth, clothing, shelter, and so on. The same can be said about their spiritual and other needs. Interests express ways and means of satisfying needs. This concerns the interests of individuals and social groups.

Thus, making a profit, which is the economic interest of the entrepreneur, is nothing more than a way to satisfy his personal needs and the needs of his production activities. Getting a higher wage - such is the interest of the hired worker - is also a way to satisfy the needs of himself and his family. As can be seen, the realization of the economic interests of certain subjects simultaneously acts as the satisfaction of their needs in the best way. And this method is determined by the place of each of them in the system of existing economic relations.

We can say that the interaction of the economic interests of people is the main content of the economic life of society. It is carried out in the process of production, distribution, exchange and consumption of created items and services, i.e. in all links of production and economic relations. We are talking about the economic interests of various kinds of entrepreneurs, workers, employees, peasants, production teams, nations, society as a whole. Each of these social subjects has its own specific interests that it seeks to realize. So the interaction of people in the process of production acts, in the final analysis, as the interaction of their economic interests. Hence the task is to develop principles for the optimal combination of their interests, their harmonization. This is perhaps the main task of economic science and practice.

The realization of the economic interests of people and the satisfaction of their needs act as the most important links in the mechanism of action of economic laws. After all, the latter is nothing but the laws of the production activity of people and their economic relations. But, as we have already seen, people are motivated to production activities, first of all, by their needs, which, therefore, are the initial link in the operation of economic laws. Economic interests express the best ways and means of people's economic activities to meet their needs, which in turn is determined by the content of existing economic relations.

Thus, economic interests to a large extent determine the content and direction of people's economic activity and thus the content and direction of the operation of economic laws.

3. Are the moral and psychological foundations of the economy and the rehabilitation of the value of labor necessary in modern Russian life?

At present, due to the rapid development of the economy, interest in the behavior and psychology of people in the sphere of economic life has increased dramatically. Within the framework of psycho-logical science, a special branch began to form - economic psychology.

The economy is a grandiose sphere of human activity in terms of its scale and vital significance. And where people act and interact, it is impossible to do without moral and psychological principles. The main ethical categories of good and evil, conscience and honor, freedom and responsibility, and others permeate the entire fabric of human life, including the sphere of economic relations. And just as there is, for example, medical ethics, in the same way, economic ethics really exist: the production of material and spiritual wealth, the elements of the market, the collection of taxes, wages - all this is permeated in one way or another by moral and psychological principles.

Economic psychology is called upon: to analyze the economic reality in the country, to study the attitude of a person to various forms of ownership - private, state, cooperative and personal, as well as the psychological problems of human needs, their quantitative and quality characteristics, patterns of their origin, development, satisfaction and reproduction, psychological conditions for the effective functioning of the economic mechanism; predict the development of not only large-scale economic situations, but also narrow areas of economic activity of individuals, their groups and society as a whole.

Specialists in the field of economic psychology note the growing role of psychological components in relations between producers and consumers. Here, it is extremely important to identify and analyze such an economic and psychological phenomenon as intuitive comprehension and understanding of the problem of choosing a line of conduct in transactions.

The main thing in economic psychology is that in the Russian economy, when adopting economic solution it is impossible not to take into account the peculiarities of the moral and psychological character of the partner, for example, the measure of his reliability and the measure of his responsibility. It is not for nothing that the people say that the agreement more expensive than money. Partners must be mutually confident in reliability. Unfortunately, this is not such an indispensable feature of the character and moral character of every person, and one cannot take reliability for granted. Of course, an experienced businessman can rely on his own experience, on his natural gift of intuitive presentiment and the power of intellectual insight, but it is advisable to use the professional experience of a psychologist, and to some extent knowledge of psychology itself. The practice of economic life in one way or another justifies the importance of psychological service in economics.

The moral and psychological foundations of the economy are the prevailing set of internal mental processes that determine social relations in the sphere of production, exchange and distribution.

V modern world the rehabilitation of labor values ​​is understood as the restoration of the positive significance of the expedient human activity, aimed at preserving, modifying, adapting the environment to meet their needs, for the production of goods and services. Labor as a process of human adaptation to the external environment was characterized by the development and improvement of the division of labor, its tools and means.

After analyzing the above, we can conclude that in the modern world, the moral and psychological foundations of the economy and the rehabilitation of the value of labor are necessary, since the market economy is growing, and in order to properly use resources to obtain the greatest profit. At the same time, to receive a quality product and to have the economic interest of people in work and receive a decent remuneration for their work.

Conclusion

Thus, in this control work, such a phenomenon in philosophy as economic relations was considered and what place a person occupies in them.

The work revealed the dialectical interaction of the economic interests of people and their economic relations. The role of economic interests as motivating forces of people's economic activity and their economic relations was shown.

The economic life of society was studied as a social space in which it is carried out. Various aspects of the economic life of society have been studied. It is revealed what is necessary for modern Russian life.

The tasks set for this work were solved to a greater or lesser extent. The material related to this topic was collected and processed into a control work.

Bibliography:

1. Fundamentals of the Philosophy of Economics: Proc. manual for university students / AI Samsin; - M.: UNITI, 2003. - 271s. Control work at maximum speed, register or log in to the site.

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