Economic life develops according to certain economic laws. Economic laws are stable, significant, constantly recurring connections between economic processes and phenomena. For example, the inverse relationship between changes in the price of a product and the demand for it is expressed in the law of demand. Economic laws, like other laws of social life, are objective in nature - they act independently of the will and desires of people.

There are general (universal) and specific economic laws.

General laws of economic development- these are those that operate throughout human history. These laws were in effect in a primitive cave, they are in effect in a modern company, and they will be in effect in a spaceship.

The most general laws of economic life include the following:

law of increasing needs;

law of progressive economic development;

the law of increasing division of labor;

law of increasing opportunity costs.

The development of society leads to a gradual increase in needs. This means that over time, people have a constantly growing idea of ​​the set of consumed goods that they consider “normal.”

On the one hand, the standard of each type of goods consumed is growing. For example, primitive people wanted, first of all, to have a lot of food. Modern man, as a rule, is concerned not with not dying of hunger, but with ensuring that his food is tasty and varied.

On the other hand, as purely material needs (especially the most pressing) are satisfied, the importance of spiritual and social needs increases. Thus, when choosing a job in modern developed countries, young people are increasingly concerned not so much with receiving high wages (which would allow them to eat and dress exquisitely), but rather with ensuring that the work is creative in nature and allows for self-realization.

Increased needs and growth of production capabilities are interrelated. As the English economist A. Marshall noted, “...in the early stages of human development, his activities were dictated by his needs; in the future, each new step forward should be considered the result of the fact that the development of new types of activity gives rise to new needs...” (Marshall A. Principles of economic science. T.1. M.: Progress, 1993).

In an effort to satisfy more and more new needs, people are improving production - increasing the quantity, quality and range of economic goods produced, increasing the efficiency of using economic resources. These processes are called progressive economic development or economic progress.

If social scientists argue about the existence of progress, for example, in morality or art, then progress in economic life is not disputed by them. Indeed, modern man lives much more prosperously than his ancestors even just a hundred years ago. This is expressed not only in the fact that he consumes more goods of better quality, but also in changing consumption priorities (climbing Maslow’s “pyramid” occurs), increasing the stability of people’s lives (the influence of negative natural phenomena on people’s lives decreases - for example, crop failures).

Progress in economic development can be achieved through development division of labor between members of society.

If different people do not produce absolutely all the consumer goods they need, but specialize in the production of only some of them, then their overall productivity will increase markedly. But in order for everyone to have a complete set of all necessary goods, it is necessary to organize a constant exchange of various goods between them.

The American economist K. Polanyi identified two different methods of coordinating the actions of participants in social production through exchange - redistribution (centralized redistribution) and market (decentralized exchange) (Table 3).

Economic development is usually defined as a process during which, over a long period of time, there is an increase in the real per capita income of the country’s population while simultaneously meeting two conditions:

· reducing or maintaining unchanged the number of people living below the poverty line;

· maintaining or reducing the degree of inequality in income distribution.

The world community is constantly developing measures to reduce inequality and unemployment.

Therefore, economic development is considered as the fundamental law of the world economy. Society cannot exist without increasing the benefits of life and raising the standard of living of the population. If the standard of living grows, then we have a classical understanding of the meaning of economic development of the world economy (a person does not live for work, but works for life).

One of the forms of socio-economic development is the growth of the needs of the population.

The growth of population needs is an objective category of the world economy. Currently, consumption volumes have increased even in underdeveloped countries.

International Labor Organization (ILO) in the late 70s. The concept of “basic needs” was put forward, calling for a focus on meeting the basic needs of the majority of the population, as opposed to the economic efficiency of production. Accordingly, the criteria for assessing economic development have changed, with social indicators taking first place.

If development opportunities are exhausted, an absolute crisis of humanity will occur (there may be a possibility of resettlement to other planets).

The economy of individual countries and regions may be in crisis for a long time, and such countries may exist due to the help of other countries. Hence, the development of the world economy must be viewed as a global system.

The development of the world economy and changes associated with development have two sides: quantitative and qualitative.

Quantitative changes are economic growth, i.e. quantitative increase in the volume of economic activity.

Qualitative changes are sustainable structural changes. They contain both the relationships between various sectors of the economy (industry, agriculture, transport, construction, etc.), and between different regions, countries - the territorial structure. Economic development occurs if quantitative growth is accompanied by corresponding progressive structural changes in the economy.

Quantitative changes are characterized by indicators of economic development:

· dynamics of the process;

· achieved level of development.

In turn, indicators of economic dynamics are divided into absolute and relative.

The absolute indicator characterizes the overall scale of growth.

The relative indicator takes into account changes in relation to a certain period or region of the country.

Some general laws of systems development can also be applied to society. When we talk about systems, we mean a whole that is made up of parts and is a unity. This unity, which is very important, is not limited to its constituent elements.

Society is also a system; it is an organized collection of people. We are all part of it, so many of us wonder how it develops. The laws of its development can be discovered by considering the sources of progress. In society, three spheres of reality, “worlds” that are not reducible to each other, interact with each other. This is, firstly, the world of things and nature, which exists independently of the consciousness and will of man, that is, it is objective and subject to various physical laws. Secondly, this is a world in which objects and things have a social existence, since they are products of human activity and labor. The third world represents human subjectivity, spiritual ideas and entities relatively independent from the objective world. They have the greatest degree of freedom.

Nature as a source of social development

The first source of social development is found in the natural world. The laws of social development in the past were often formulated based on it. It is the basis for the existence of society, which, interacting with it, improves. We should not forget that it was the laws of the development of nature that led to the emergence of man. The largest civilizations, characteristically, arose in the beds of large rivers, and the most successful development of the capitalist formation in the world took place in states with a temperate climate.

It should be noted that the current stage of interaction between society and nature is marked by the concept. Its main reason was the attitude of people to conquer nature, as well as ignoring the limits of its resistance to anthropogenic influences. People turn a blind eye to the basic laws of development, forget about everything in pursuit of short-term gain and do not take into account the consequences. The behavior and consciousness of billions of inhabitants of the Earth must be changed so that nature can continue to provide us with the necessary resources.

The role of technology in the development of society

The next source is technological determinants, that is, the role of technology, as well as the process of division of labor in the social structure. They also provide social development. Laws today are often formulated using the role of technology as a basis. This is not surprising - it is now actively being improved. However, according to T. Adorno, the question of the priority of technology and economics is the question of what came first: the egg or the chicken. The same can be attributed to the type and nature of human labor, which largely determine the system of social relations. All this has become especially obvious today, when the contours have emerged. The main contradiction in this case arises between the humane goals of his existence pursued by man and the potentially threatening world of information technology. Its active development causes many problems.

The laws of social development are therefore beginning to be revised, the emphasis is on which we will now talk about.

The spiritual sphere as a source of social progress

Marx believed, leaving aside the “primary” (initial) stage, as well as the “secondary forms” of the community that grew on its form, that in relation to the era of class society and civilization, ancient, feudal, Asian and bourgeois (modern) modes of production can be called progressive eras of social economic formation. In the social science of the USSR, a simplified formula for the process of historical development was used, implying the transition of a primitive society first to a slave society, then to a feudal one, then to a capitalist one and, finally, to a socialist one.

The concept of "local civilizations"

The concept of “local civilizations”, which was created through the efforts of A. D. Toynbee, O. Spengler and N. A. Danilevsky, enjoys the greatest recognition in the philosophical thought of the 19-20 centuries. According to it, all peoples are divided into civilized and primitive, and the former are also divided into cultural and historical types. The phenomenon formulated as "Challenge-and-Response" is of particular interest here. It consists in the fact that calm development is suddenly replaced by a critical situation, which, in turn, encourages the growth of a particular culture. The authors of this concept made an attempt to overcome Eurocentrism in the understanding of civilization.

Systems approach

In the last quarter of the 20th century, an approach was developed according to which the world is a system in which the laws of human and social development operate. This is due to the fact that at this time the process in the world conglomerate was gaining strength: a “periphery” and a “core”, forming as a whole a “world-system” that exists according to the laws of superformation. The main product of today's type of production has become information and everything connected with it. And this, in turn, changes the idea that the historical process is of a linear type.

Laws of economic development

These are constantly recurring, significant, stable connections between economic phenomena and processes. For example, the law of demand expresses the inverse relationship that exists between changes in the price of a certain product and the demand that arises for it. Like other laws of social life, economic ones operate regardless of the desires and will of people. Among them we can distinguish universal (general) and specific.

General ones are those that operate throughout human history. They functioned back in the primitive cave and continue to be relevant in the modern company, and will also operate in the future. Among them are the following laws of economic development:

Increased needs;

Progressive economic development;

Increased opportunity costs;

Growing division of labor.

The development of society inevitably leads to a gradual increase in needs. This means that over time, people have a growing understanding of the set of goods that they regard as “normal.” On the other hand, the standard of each type of good that is consumed increases. Primitive people, for example, wanted, first of all, to have a lot of food. Today, people, as a rule, no longer care about not dying from its lack. He strives to ensure that his food is varied and tasty.

On the other hand, as purely material needs are satisfied, the role of social and spiritual ones increases. For example, in modern developed countries, when choosing a job, young people are increasingly concerned not so much with earning more (which allows them to dress and eat elegantly), but with the fact that the work is creative in nature and provides the opportunity for self-realization.

People, trying to satisfy new needs, improve production. They increase the range, quality and quantity of goods produced in the economy, and also increase the efficiency of use of various natural resources. These processes can be called economic progress. If the existence of progress in art or morality is disputed, then in economic life it is undeniable. This can be achieved through the division of labor. If people specialize in the production of some specific goods, then overall productivity will noticeably increase. However, in order for each person to have a full set of goods that he needs, it is necessary to organize a constant exchange between members of society.

Redistribution and decentralized exchange

K. Polanyi, an American economist, identified 2 methods of coordinating actions between production participants. The first is redistribution, that is, exchange, centralized redistribution. The second is the market, that is, decentralized exchange. In pre-capitalist societies, redistributive product exchange prevailed, that is, natural exchange, carried out without the use of money.

At the same time, the state forcibly confiscated part of the products produced by its subjects from them for further redistribution. This method was typical not only for societies of the Middle Ages and antiquity, but also for the economies of socialist countries.

Even during the primitive system, market commodity exchange arose. In pre-capitalist societies, however, it was mainly a secondary element. Only in a capitalist society does the market become the main method of coordination. At the same time, the state actively encourages its development by creating various laws, for example, the “Law on Entrepreneurship Development.” Money relations are actively used. In this case, commodity exchange is carried out horizontally, between producers who have equal rights. Each of them has complete freedom of choice in finding transaction partners. The Small Business Development Law provides support for small firms that find it difficult to function in the context of growing competition.

This refers to the rivalry between enterprises producing the same products in order to attract consumers to their brand. Competition is one of the most important concepts of a market economy, substantiating the laws of the capitalist mode of production. The purpose of competition is to provide conditions for obtaining maximum profits and achieving economic efficiency of production.

At different historical stages of the development of society, the law of competition took different forms. In Russian society, a particular manifestation of the law of competition was the law of socialist competition, characteristic of the Soviet period. However, it would be a mistake to ideologize the law of socialist competition, believing that it is a purely Soviet property. The problem of competition as an effective form of personal self-expression was considered by the utopian socialists T. More (1478-1535), T. Campanella (1568-1639), C. Fourier (1772-1837), C. Saint-Simon (1760-1825). ). The spread of the law of socialist competition in Russia occurred at the beginning of the 20th century. Lenin, in his work “The Immediate Tasks of Soviet Power” (1918), formulated the basic principles of this law: the living power of example, publicity; a new organization of labor, a contract as the basis for the development of socialist competition. At the same time, Lenin considered the development of competition in the economic sphere an integral condition for the development of a socialist society, assigning to it the function of an economic mechanism for the development of a new society. As history has shown, the law of socialist competition could not fully fulfill its regulatory functions, since it was based on the influence of power on individuals dependent on it. The law on socialist competition contains a contradiction between “the desire of the individual to prove himself in work and the desire to help the work collective. The resolution of this contradiction came to life on a personal level.” According to many experts, the replacement of the law of competition with the law of socialist competition significantly weakened the possibilities of interaction between the laws of division and change of labor, since the law of division of labor turned out to be deprived of natural incentives for development, and the effect of the law of change of labor narrowed and was reduced mainly to the combination of professions on production (production) lines , mastering related professions, industry-specific types of retraining.

The scope of the competition law is all social production, while the source of self-development is the social contradiction between the desire of each person to realize himself to the maximum in the struggle for survival and the resistance of the social environment. The intensity of competition in the markets for goods and services in a market economy is constantly increasing, and the types of competition, or rather, competition, are becoming more complex, becoming more diverse and taking on an increasingly indirect nature. The results of competition depend on the subjects of competition, as well as the specific financial and economic conditions of the development of society.

When analyzing social relations in the field of economics and finance, it is useful to take into account the types of competition: perfect (or “pure”), monopolistic, oligopolistic (competition between the few), pure monopoly. The closest interaction between the laws of division and change of labor is ensured by perfect competition, which presupposes the absence of price control, elastic demand, and the absence of restrictions on free enterprise and business development. There is also such a type of competition as competition in quantities - competition in an oligopolistic market, when enterprises vary not prices, but production volumes (quantities). This type of competition was first considered by Antoine Cournot in 1838.

Due to increased competition in the labor and goods markets and, at the same time, the high level of poverty of the Russian population, the introduction of monetization of social benefits, there is increasing interest in the sociological analysis of the “hare problem” - the problem of minimizing society’s losses associated with the population’s desire to consume as many public goods as possible distributed free of charge. However, due to imperfect competition in the Russian market of goods and services, and the desire of producers to quickly get rich, it is not profitable for the latter to increase “public goods”, which can be distributed free of charge among the poor and impoverished segments of the population.

So, from the standpoint of the sociological approach, competition is a social process of economic development of producers of goods and services, accompanied by a clash of interests of subjects of competition (social organizations, institutions, individuals), leading to the emergence of a conflict of interests and behavior of competing parties and having a direct or indirect impact on the state of the market , as well as on the economic behavior of producers and consumers.

Important social indicators of the competition process are:

• competitiveness, manifested in the interaction of competing parties - economic entities;
• fairness of competition associated with the ethical and cultural standards of competing entities.

Law of division of labor

The law of division of labor determines the dynamics of the division of labor into various types depending on the criteria - mental and physical labor; industrial and agricultural; managerial and executive, etc. This law is the basis for dividing society into social groups engaged in corresponding types of labor. French sociologist Emile Durkheim, in his work “On the Division of Social Labor” (1893), noted: “Although the division of labor has not existed since yesterday, it was only at the end of the last century that societies began to become aware of this law, which until then had governed them almost without their knowledge. " In modern conditions of development of a market economy, the role of science as a component of production is increasing, and the division of labor increasingly depends on the development of the education system.

In the context of the development of the modern concept of the “knowledge economy,” sociologists consider the status of various types of work, their combination, the emergence of new professions and types of work, the expansion of the tertiary education sector, which, within the Russian education system, corresponds to secondary and higher vocational education, as well as postgraduate education ( postgraduate and doctoral studies). Post-graduate education should play a decisive role in the formation of intellectual potential and the development of new types of intellectual work.

Today, an important problem for sociological analysis is the social consequences of the division of social labor, in particular the process of formation of the Russian middle class, the integration into its structure of representatives of different socio-professional strata of qualified specialists.

Law of labor change

Law of labor change is directly related to the law of division of labor and is the “universal law of social production.” This law arose during the Industrial Revolution of the 16th-19th centuries, when the dependence of the type of labor on technical progress and its implementation in all types of production increased.

This law reflects the mobility of an employee’s functions and the need to change occupation. An enterprise, based on the needs of production and the interests of the employer, can repeatedly change personnel, achieving the formation of a high-quality workforce. Thus, the law manifests itself in the transition from one type of activity to another and presupposes that the individual has the ability to make such a transition. Changing jobs develops the employee’s abilities and professional skills. At the same time, mastering a number of specialties not only expands the range of a person’s (employee’s) work activity, but increases his competitiveness in the labor market. Ultimately, the law of labor change contains the requirement to replace workers with limited labor and professional skills with workers with a high level of professional suitability for the rapidly changing demands of technologically advanced production. The tools for achieving such mobile qualities of a worker are vocational education, a system of advanced training and retraining. The effect of this law is fully manifested in the labor market, in the qualitative characteristics of the labor force and connects the labor market with the market for educational services.

In the conditions of the Russian market economy, three forms of functioning of the law of labor change can be distinguished:

• changing the type of work activity within the existing profession;
• changing the type of work;
• combination of the main type of work activity with other types.

The change in the structure of the Russian labor and employment market, in turn, changed the nature of demand. With a general sharp drop in the early 1990s. labor mobility in the production sector, a reduction in the employment of engineering and technical workers, the labor market's demand for financial and economic specialists, lawyers, managers, and trade workers has increased.

The world labor market in the context of globalization creates the need for an ever-increasing migration of labor resources, adaptation of workers to the demands of national labor markets, the needs of employers and consumers. These processes give rise to a new phenomenon - flexibilization - increasing the flexibility of employers in the use of labor. Flexibilization as one of the forms of manifestation of the law of labor change reflects the ability of an organization to adapt its production to the demand in the markets for goods and services, taking into account their quality and quantity, as well as to ensure the necessary quality of labor for production needs. The social aspects of flexibilization and the social consequences of its development are of direct interest as a subject of sociological analysis.

Law of supply and demand

Laws of supply and demand - fundamental economic laws of a market economy. They reflect the action of two market forces - supply and demand. The result of their interaction is “an agreement between the parties on the purchase and sale of goods and/or services in a certain quantity and at a certain price.”

The origin of economic ideas dates back to the emergence of man. The origins of economic science should be sought in the teachings of thinkers of the ancient world. Ancient Indian "Laws of Manu"(IV–III centuries BC), “ Arthashastra"(II century BC), Babylonian " Laws of King Hammurabi"(XVIII BC), ancient Chinese " Book of Changes" and other sources noted the existence of a social division of labor, private property, relations of dominance and subordination between people.

Vertex pre-classical stage The development of economic thought is associated with the activities of ancient thinkers. Views of ancient Greek philosophers Xenophon(430–354 BC), Plato(427–347 BC) , Aristotle(384–322 BC) can be characterized as the theoretical starting points of modern economics. For example, issues such as the value and price of goods, utility, exchange relations, functions of money, etc. were considered here. It is believed that the very term “economics,” denoting the study of housekeeping, was introduced into scientific circulation by Aristotle. In Ancient Rome, problems of an applied, primarily agricultural nature, received particular importance.

Christianity has changed the assessment of economic activity. It declared work to be a necessary and sacred task. Ethical standards of conduct have been transferred scholastics in the description of the economy. Therefore, the economic doctrine of the Middle Ages turned out to be more of a set of norms and rules of social life than a generalization of real economic practice.

As a science, economic theory emerged in the 16th–17th centuries. Its origins classical period development has become mercantilism(from the Italian “mercante” - merchant), which, according to T. Negishi, is not a theoretical school, but a systematic policy aimed at creating strong centralized national states in the conditions that emerged after the collapse of the medieval system of organizing industry and trade. The main concern of the mercantilists was to find ways by which the state could obtain gold and silver, which were considered the main wealth. The most famous of them were the ban on the export of precious metals from the country and the import of goods.

The English economist was especially popular among mercantilists Thomas Mann, who recognized trade as the only source of wealth, and the French explorer Antoine de Montchretien, who in 1615 introduced the term “political economy”, which meant “management of the state property of the city.”

In the middle of the 18th century, economic schools proper began to form. . Physiocrats(from the Greek “power of nature”) rejected the teachings of the mercantilists, believing that the source of wealth is the excess of the product produced over that consumed in agriculture. The most prominent representative of this school was Francois Quesnay(1694–1774), who in his “Economic Tables” made a brilliant attempt to analyze social reproduction. A transitional bridge from mercantilists and physiocrats to classical political economy steel work William Petty(1623–1686). His saying “Labor is the father and the most active principle of wealth, and land is its mother” became widely known.

Adam Smith and David Ricardo went down in history as the founders of classical political economy. Its main idea is liberalism, minimal government intervention in the economy, market self-regulation based on free competition, which A. Smith called the “invisible hand.” The classics of political economy laid the foundations of the labor theory of value and the doctrine of income, and tried to reveal the economic laws of development of their contemporary society.

Classical political economy became the basis for all subsequent development of economic science, posing the main problems and proposing the main research methods. Based on the traditions of the classical school of political economy, K. Marx and F. Engels in the middle of the 19th century. created a theoretical concept that received the general name Marxism. Their ideas, considering the laws of development of capitalism and the concept of socialism, had a significant influence on the development of domestic economic theory until the 1980s.

In parallel with Marxism, the theory was formulated marginalism(from English “ultimate”), which marked the beginning of a new neoclassical stage development of economic thought. Economists became classics of this theory Austrian school Carl Menger (1840–1921), Friedrich von Wieser (1851–1926), Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk(1851–1914). Marginalism, unlike previous schools of economic analysis, was based on the use of marginal, additional values ​​that characterize changes in the state of the object of analysis.

Within the framework of the neoclassical stage, modern economic theories that were formed at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries are also distinguished. Their main directions are neoclassical, Keynesian and institutional sociological.

Neoclassical direction began to be associated with the design of the “new classical economics,” which is an attempt to synthesize marginalism and classical political economy. It is represented by modern theories monetarism (M. Friedman(born 1912)) and neoliberalism (F. Hayek (1899–1992)).

Founder Keynesian direction is John Maynard Keynes(1883–1946). His works provided the most important theoretical justification for state regulation of the economy through financial and monetary policy.

Forefather institutional-sociological direction is Thorstein Veblen(1857–1929). The name of the concept comes from the Latin “institute” – establishment, organization, establishment. All its supporters view the economy as a system that includes a set of economic and non-economic factors and relationships.

Modern economic theory, being the heir to a wealth of knowledge, does not discard anything that economists of past centuries contributed to it. It continues their ideas, supplementing or clarifying scientific analysis, therefore this stage in the development of economic science is usually associated with the formation of a new paradigms. It is understood as a system of fundamental premises, research methods adopted in science, as well as scientists’ ideas about ways to solve problems. The modern paradigm provides for the possibility of synthesis, rather than opposition, of various economic schools and areas of analysis.

Many modern economists have made outstanding discoveries in theory, which have been applied in practice and contributed to improving the impact on economic development. Evidence of this is the annual award of the Nobel Prize, the highest scientific award. Nobel Prizes in Economics have been awarded since 1969, and currently there are over 30 of them. Among the prize winners are P. Samuelson, V. Leontiev, M. Friedman, L. Kantorovich, K. Arrow, J. Hicks, G. Simon , R. Sollow, J. Buchanan, J. Tinbergen, S. Kuznets and other prominent economists of our time.

There is still no generally accepted definition of economic theory. It covers such a wide range of meanings that any brief definition leaves out any important aspects. item A. However, the main problem of economic theory and practice is to resolve the contradiction between the unlimited needs of people and limited resources.

In the broad sense of the word economic theory– is the science of the patterns and factors of economic growth in the phase-by-phase dynamics of reproduction; about the use of limited resources for the production of goods and services and their exchange in order to satisfy needs; about the types of production and exchange activities, about the daily business life of people associated with the extraction of means of subsistence; about public wealth.

Structurally, economic theory includes two sections: microeconomics and macroeconomics. Microeconomics studies the behavior of individual economic agents. Its founders are considered to be representatives of marginalism. The center of her analysis is the prices of individual goods, costs, forms and mechanisms of capital formation and the functioning of the company, the pricing mechanism, and labor motivation. Macroeconomics studies economic processes and phenomena at the state level. The object of her research is the national product, economic growth, employment, inflation. Macro- and microeconomics are interdependent and organically interact.

Macroeconomics, like microeconomics, is section of economic theory. Translated from Greek, the word “macro” means “big” (respectively, “micro” means “small”), and the word “economics” means “household management” (Shevchuk D.A., Shevchuk V.A. Macroeconomics: Lecture notes. – M.: Higher Education, 2006). Thus, macroeconomics is a science that studies the behavior of the economy as a whole or its large aggregates (aggregates)), while the economy is considered as a single complex large hierarchically organized system, as a set of economic processes and phenomena and their indicators (Shevchuk D.A. Macroeconomics: Lecture notes. - Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 2007).

Unlike microeconomics, which studies the economic behavior of individual economic entities (consumer or producer), macroeconomics studies problems common to the entire economy, and operates aggregate values such as gross domestic product, national income, aggregate demand, aggregate supply, aggregate consumption, investment, general price level, unemployment rate, government debt, etc.

The definition of the subject of economics in terms of limited resources, the classic formulation of which belongs to Lionel Robbins (1932), consists of four conditions:

1) a person strives for various goals;

2) the time and means at his disposal are limited;

3) they can be aimed at achieving alternative goals;

4) at each moment in time, goals have different importance.

Only all conditions taken together create a situation of choice.

The main problem of economics is the choice of directions and methods of using limited resources. This leads to three fundamental tasks that individuals and society as a whole face in the process of choice: what, how and for whom to produce? Depending on the methods of solving these problems, three economic systems are distinguished: traditional, market and command. In a market economy, the price system determines: “what,” “how,” and “for whom.” For this reason, microeconomics is often called the theory of price (Shevchuk D.A. Microeconomics: Lecture notes. - Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 2007).

The criterion for answering the first question is “Which needs are most important and to what extent can they be satisfied?” value appears. In a market economy, it, along with costs, determines the price of goods, and the valuation process itself is carried out by the buyer. A greater need corresponds to a willingness to pay a higher price. Thus, the economy establishes a price structure that reflects the relative value of various goods and services to society as a whole. When preferences change, the structure of consumer spending changes, as a result, the price structure changes, and we answer the question “What to produce?” differently.

The problem “How to produce?” can be broken down into a number of sub-questions:

1. How should resources be distributed between industries?

2. Which firms (enterprises) should carry out production in each industry?

3. What combinations of resources (what technology) should the firm use?

Once again, the price system tells us the right answers. The more a product is needed, the higher its price and the higher the profit from its production. In turn, more profitable firms are willing to pay more for resources. There is a market-regulated flow of resources from firms producing less desirable goods to firms producing more desirable goods and services. The choice of a specific technology is determined by the internal company goal - to produce goods as cheaply as possible (to minimize costs). This choice depends on the prices of factors of production.

Product distribution and the answer to the question “Who should benefit?” depends on the distribution of income among individuals in accordance with the prices of resources and the amount of resources each individual possesses. Those with large incomes receive a larger share of production.

Opportunity costs.

When choosing the optimal option for using resources, the “opportunity cost” of the choice made can be called the best of the options that had to be sacrificed.

For example, the opportunity cost of studying at an institute is the student’s earnings if he worked.

The most important concept in economics is opportunity costs. In the literature, the expressions “lost opportunity costs” are also used as synonyms. “opportunity costs”, “opportunity cost”, “opportunity costs” and some others).

The opportunity cost of current use of a resource is the income from the best remaining alternative use of it.

"Microeconomics" in the system of economic disciplines.

Micro, meso, macro, global (mega).

It should be emphasized that microeconomics is in many ways an abstract science; it is not intended to provide answers to questions like “How to earn a million and how best to spend it later?” It cannot be said that it fully reflects the realities of economic life or even strives for this, as physics, for example, strives to give a holistic physical picture of the world. It only explores the main features of the functioning of the economy, using various simplifying premises and models. One of the most important prerequisites is the hypothesis about the rational behavior of economic agents.

Unlike other social sciences, the economic approach to the analysis of behavior is based on the assumption that individuals act solely in their own interests, and the goal of these actions is to maximize utility.

Microeconomics methodology: postulates and models.

The main research method is the study of objects not directly, but indirectly, through the analysis of models.

In economic theory, symbolic modeling is used, usually formulas and graphs.

In microeconomics, optimization models (marginal utility, marginal costs, etc.) and equilibrium models (market equilibrium) are used.

Various models are used in microeconomics to describe how prices and the factors that determine them interact. Models are used to draw conclusions from theory and to predict how changes in economic conditions lead to changes in decisions and to changes in the prices and quantities of goods sold and purchased. Conclusions from an economic model are expressed in the form of hypotheses, which are statements about cause and effect that can be supported or refuted by evidence. At the same time, models are simplifications and abstractions that do not pretend to be a mirror image of reality. They should be detailed enough to satisfy the original purpose and no more. And the basic principles taken from simple models do not contradict the principles of operation of complex models (Shevchuk D.A. Microeconomics: Lecture notes. - Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 2007).

Economic theory serves several functions. Cognitive function allows you to reveal the essence of economic phenomena and contributes to the formation of economic thinking. Thanks to methodological function economic theory studies the general (the object as a whole), relying on general laws as the initial methodological premises of analysis. Practical function provides economic policy.

The mutual connection of these functions is manifested in the interaction of economic policy, economic practice and science, which is reflected in Diagram 1.

Scheme 1.

Interaction of economic policy, economic practice and science.

The basis of economic theory is the study of social production, which serves as the starting point for the emergence of new needs and interests. Needs contribute to qualitative and quantitative changes in production, influencing it not directly, but through the market and economic policy. The latter, in turn, is exposed not only to production, but also to economic science. The implementation of economic policy objectives can lead to changes in social production and its improvement, which is reflected in the subsequent development of economic theory. Isolating the functions of economic theory allows us to determine its place among other economic sciences (Diagram 2).

Scheme 2.

The place of economic theory in the system of economic sciences.

Method- these are the techniques and research tools that are available to methodology as an independent science of method.

When studying economic processes and phenomena, we should talk about two aspects of analysis. Firstly, it is a study of internal processes at the microeconomic level. It involves the use method of establishing a minimum or maximum when determining limit values. Secondly, there is the aspect of considering external relations that characterize the relationships between agents of production. The predominant one here is equilibrium method both at the macroeconomic and microeconomic levels.

The connection between economic theory and methodology does not exhaust the role of the research method; it has its own special techniques and specifics. First of all this principle he needs to consider phenomena in development. The research potential of the principle of historicism is very great, it includes comparative historical method, unity of historical and logical etc.

Methods and techniques for analyzing economic reality include induction and deduction, analysis and synthesis . Induction is the process of creating a theory from a set of observations. It provides a transition from particular observations to generalization . Deduction– the process of predicting future events using theory. It provides a transition from the general to the specific . Analysis means the study of an object in parts, i.e., its individual aspects and properties, in order to then combine the results obtained into a whole, to produce synthesis.

The most important method of economic theory is systems approach, exploring functional relationships - direct and inverse dependencies between variables. Its use has shown that economic laws and categories are not absolute, but relative, which allows us to move away from one-sidedness and categorical judgments.

Economic theory makes extensive use mathematical and statistical methods, which make it possible to identify the quantitative side of processes and phenomena of economic life, their transition to a new quality. Of particular importance for economic theory is modeling, i.e. a formalized description of an economic process or phenomenon, whose structure is determined by the objective properties and the subjective target nature of the study. When building a model, it is used abstraction method: by preserving the main functional dependencies of economic variables and not taking into account secondary ones, the model reproduces simplified economic connections, which makes it possible to create complex theoretical systems. After building the model, it is necessary to check how well it corresponds to real economic processes. Models can be static, in which the economic system is analyzed at a certain point in time, and dynamic, which are the basis for predicting development in the future. There are also linear and nonlinear models. A distinctive feature of nonlinear models is the complex nature of the relationships, which cannot be expressed by a system of linear equations. In addition to mathematical (sign) models, graphical models are used in economic theory.

Economic principles- these are generalizations containing somewhat inaccurate quantitative determinations in the form of average data or statistical probabilities.

Among the economic principles, the most common are:

– the “ceteris paribus” assumption, which allows us to consider all economic variables, with the exception of those currently being considered, unchanged;

– the cost-benefit principle, which requires an economically rational choice from a number of alternatives;

– the principle “after this, does not mean because of this”, which requires not to confuse correlation (dependence) with causation in the analysis.

When studying economic problems they often use positive and normative analysis. Based on this, a distinction is made between positive and normative economic theories. Positive analysis makes it possible to see connections between real economic phenomena and processes; normative analysis is based on the study of what and how it should be. A normative statement is usually derived from a positive statement, but objective facts cannot prove its truth or falsity. In normative analysis, assessments are made - fair or not, bad or good, acceptable or unacceptable.

Economic theories are formulated in the form of positive statements, although most of the differences between economists arise when considering issues of normative analysis.

Thus, the study of economic problems leads to the identification and collection of facts, the establishment of principles characterizing the actual behavior of individuals and institutions. Deriving principles from facts is the content of economic theory, which is necessary for the development of successful economic policies (see diagram 3).

Scheme 3.

The relationship between factors, principles and policies in economics.

Economic policy– a purposeful system of state activities in the field of social production, distribution, exchange and consumption of goods. It is designed to reflect the interests of society, all its social groups, and is aimed at strengthening the national economy.

Major transformations, changes in the system of economic management, economic management, ways and means of implementing economic policy constitute the content of economic reforms.

Reform– specially organized and legally carried out by the highest authorities transformations of social relations (economic, social, political, etc.) or individual spheres of life of the state and society (finance, education, defense, etc.), and we are talking about quite significant layers of these relations, about important areas of social and state life.

The prerequisites for modern economic reform in Russia can be considered attempts to transform the centrally planned economy, called “perestroika” (spring 1985 - August 1991), when the first steps were taken towards a real market economy. At the same time, the main task was considered to be a radical reconstruction of the national economy on the basis of scientific and technological progress, with deep structural changes in social production, with a radical reform of the economic mechanism, capable of giving socialism a new quality. In the development of modern economic reform in Russia, associated with an attempt to build a market system, several stages can be distinguished (see Table 1)

Table 1.

Stages of economic reform in modern Russia.

The deepest crisis in which the country finds itself, the failure of attempts to interrupt its course testify to the inadequacy of the adopted version of reforms to the requirements of the time and conditions of the country and urgently raise the question of the need to create a new concept of reform with modern characteristics of the quality of life of the people based on the formation of a new technological method of production and a multi-structure, a socially oriented, dynamic market economy with a significant role of the state in regulation. Particular importance is attached to regional policy in the process of developing a new reform strategy. This is due to the existence of trends of economic and political disintegration. The example of Chechnya shows what dangerous limits the sovereignization process can reach, what casualties it can lead to among the population and in the economy if it is not blocked in a timely manner or is not resolved within the framework of the law. This proves the need to use more effective reform tools and make informed political and economic decisions that help preserve the integrity of the state. Such requirements are due to the general progress of economic reform in all regions of the country. Therefore, many documents related to regional policy state that modern economic reform should be aimed at: aligning the economic and social development of regions according to all indicators that determine the standard of living of the population; the formation of effective territorial proportions, large production complexes, the creation of conditions for a territorial settlement system; overcoming imbalances in the development of the national economic complex and individual industries based on a reduction in the raw materials sector of the economy in favor of the processing sector and the service sector; changes in the administrative-territorial structure of Russia and its zoning.

1. Give your comment and determine which conclusions are positive and which are normative: a) “Recently, the Russian economy has seen a decline in production and high inflation rates”; b) “It is necessary to develop a set of measures to slow down or stop the decline in production and reduce the rate of inflation”; c) “The Primorsky Territory, already at the initial stage of reforms, received the necessary constitutional powers to justify and implement a socio-economic policy adequate to the conditions available here. This provided greater freedom of action in choosing priority areas and effective mechanisms for entering the market”; d) “If the decline in national production in 1991-92. was explained by the very fact of the transition from a planned economy to a market economy, then in subsequent years it is no longer possible and politically immoral to write off the “diseases” of the economy only due to the painful legacy of the communist regime.”

2. What is the significance of economics not being a laboratory science? What problems may arise from the formulation and application of economic principles?

3. Indicate which of the following statements applies to macroeconomics and which to microeconomics: a) the unemployment rate in certain regions of Russia reaches 10%; b) the closure of mines as a result of forced structural restructuring of the domestic economy led to the massive layoff of workers; c) Russia's GNP has decreased by almost 40% over five years.

4. Indicate what logical errors that violate the principles of economic analysis are contained in the following statements: a) workers in the coal mining industry increased their income as a result of wage increases, therefore, workers in all other industries would benefit if their wages increased; b) the increase in gasoline prices in Russia was accompanied by an expansion in the volume of its sales, therefore, the increase in demand for gasoline was caused by an increase in its selling price; c) after the collapse of the USSR, the structural crisis in the CIS countries began to deepen, which means that its development was caused by political reasons; d) rising prices in Primorye are accompanied by rising wages, therefore, the population of the region benefits from rising prices.

5. Based on common sense and your everyday experience, determine what functional connections exist between: a) the price of a product and the demand for it; b) your cash income and your savings; c) your cash income and expenses for current consumption; d) interest on loans and demand for credit.

Which of these dependencies are directly and which are inversely proportional?

Choose the only correct answer.

1. Economic theory can be defined as a science

a) about the exchange market; b) about public administration;

c) about public choice in conditions of limited resources;

d) how the state influences the activities of the market.

2. Which of these provisions is not related to the definition of the subject of economic theory?

a) efficient use of resources;

b) unlimited resources; c) system of needs;

d) maximum satisfaction of needs;

3. Economic model

a) reflects basic economic principles;

b) can explain how the real economy functions;

c) often based on simplifications;

d) is an ideal reflection of reality.

4. The process of focusing only on the most important factors to explain a phenomenon or phenomenon is called

a) abstraction; b) limit analysis;

c) rational choice; d) controlled experiment.

5. Which of the named economists is the founder of the labor theory of value in economic theory?

a) Aristotle; b) A. Smith; c) D. Ricardo; d) K. Marx.

6. Use of assumptions in economic analysis:

a) changes the internal logic of the theory or model;

b) makes it easier to solve the problem;

c) makes the model more realistic;

D) increases the number of research questions.

7. Economic theory

a) deals exclusively with the predictive characteristics of the development of economic systems;

b) contains provisions that are accepted by all economists;

c) is an exact applied science;

d) cannot predict the future, but can explain the consequences of certain phenomena in economic development.

8. Economic reform is

a) transformations specially organized and carried out by the highest authorities;

b) an alternative to social revolution;

c) a system of social experiments;

d) transition of society to a market economy.