Parental labor costs as an element of human capital appreciation

• Main Authors: Anna Petrovna Bagirova, Irina Viktorovna Shmarova
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: Perm State University 2018-12-01
• Series: Вестник Пермского университета: Серия Экономика
• Online Access: http://economics.psu.ru/index.php/econ/article/view/145

The increase in the volume of intellectual labor in almost all branches of activity creates the need for highly qualified workers. This, in turn, leads to the increased interest in issues related to the development of human capital. The decline in the birth rate and high mortality rate in the early 2000s increased the threat of shortage of labor resources necessary for the socio-economic development of the country. Under these circumstances it is particularly relevant to pay attention to the reproduction of human resources, the evaluation of human capital, as well as to the qualitative aspects of human development. The aim of the study is to analyze the methods for determining the value of human capital in cost terms, as well as to identify indicators that allow taking into account the costs associated with the reproduction of human resources in the calculation of its value. The following new scientific results that characterize the novelty of the original study have been distinguished: 1) the classification of human capital valuation models has been suggested; 2) the restrictions of approaches to the human capital evaluation associated with the absence of human resources reproduction costs in most models of accounting have been revealed; 3) an opportunity to develop the approach suggested by J.W. Kendrick for the human capital evaluation by taking into account the costs of parental work has been justified; the latter means costs associated with the conscious expedient activities for the birth, care, education, development, socialization and professionalization of children, which is performed by parents, immediate family and specialists in the field of social reproduction on behalf and/or consent and control by parents at all stages of human resources reproduction in order to form quantitative and qualitative characteristics of human capital has been justified; 4) indicators on the basis of which it is possible to implement the accounting of direct and indirect costs of parental labor have been determined. The inclusion of costs associated with the reproduction of human capital will make estimates of human capital more accurate across the country and regions. In addition, these estimates will monitor the efficiency of public measures aimed at stabilizing the demographic situation in the Russian Federation. The prospects for the study are associated with an empirical assessment of human capital based on the proposed theoretical model, as well as with the development of tools for human capital evaluation due to the inclusion in the model elements that characterize different contribution of each parent to the reproduction of children's human capital, and alternative costs associated with it.