Abstract

Economic science considers human capital as a fundamental factor that stimulates the accumulation of productive capital and, accordingly, has a positive effect on economic growth. Improving labor force quality can lead to an increase in the well-being of an individual due to an increase in his labor cost. An increase in public welfare will affect the economic growth of the state as a whole. The above conditions the relevance and timeliness of this work, aimed at illustration of human capital concept (subject of the study), as well as determination of human capital place in theoretical economic growth models and empirical mechanisms of its influence on growth. A review of theoretical works analyzing human capital concept and its relationship with economic growth rates aimed at achieving this goal. The study was conducted at the IPEI Center for the Study of Central Banking Problems as part of the RANEPA state task for 2022 using relevant academic literature and as the major source of information and methods such as descriptive, statistical, comparative analysis, as well as systematic approach. Analysis of human capital concept allows concluding that this indicator represents a set of innate and acquired through investment knowledge, skills and practical skills that determine labor productivity and future income of an employee. The mechanisms of human capital impact on economic growth include the relationship between growth and education level, the impact of human capital on technological progress, the relationship between health indicators and economic growth rates, the growth effect of public spending on education and health, and, finally, the effect of human capital in terms of poverty reduction. In the future, this review can serve as a starting point for an empirical study of investments in human capital in Russia within the framework of models with uncertainty and individual heterogeneous discounting.