Economic resources are all kinds of natural and human opportunities that are used for production in order to meet needs.
Modern production creates countless different goods - services and products. Therefore, the amount of resources used should be as huge as the volume of production. In essence, economic resources, also called factors of production, represent various goods that are used to produce other goods. All of them are united in several large groups. Let's analyze them in more detail.
Economic resources and their types
1) Earth.
This name combines all types of natural resources: minerals, land, forests, water, flora, fauna, climatic and recreational opportunities.
Natural economic resources participate differently in economic activity:
- as the operational basis of production, they represent the immediate territory on which the production facilities are located;
- as sources of mineral resources they are used in the mining industry;
- as objects of industrial activity, they are represented in agriculture.
Land is a limited and practically irreplaceable resource, so it needs the careful attitude of users and government protection. Due to neglect of the land, more than six million hectares are annually withdrawn from agricultural circulation in the world. At this rate, after two and a half centuries, humanity risks losing all the land suitable for agriculture.
2) Labor.
This type of resources covers people who are engaged in industrial (economic) activities. Despite technological progress and automation, the role of labor in the production process does not decrease at all. The reasons for this, firstly, are the complexity of the tasks that are solved in modern production to meet growing needs. Secondly, labor is becoming more and more intellectual, that is, mental efforts are growing. Thirdly, in many areas of activity there are high risks and responsibilities - for example, in nuclear energy, air transportation, etc.
Since people are the direct carriers of specific technical and organizational knowledge and skills, culture, it is now accepted that labor economic resources are not only labor, but all human capital, which reflects the level of development of workers.
3) Capital.
This type of resources includes the means of production (equipment, machinery, equipment, transport, buildings and structures) and financial opportunities (funds that are controlled by banks and private individuals, giving them for use in the form of loans and investments).
4) Entrepreneurship skills.
These economic resources are separated from others into a separate category and represent the ability to establish a profitable business and manage it effectively. Not every person has a natural ability for entrepreneurship, so not everyone can become successful businessmen. Successful entrepreneurial activity, in addition to knowledge of production technologies, also implies a risk appetite, developed intuition, communication and persuasion skills.
5) Information.
Information economic resources include knowledge of needs, capabilities, production and management technologies, prices, etc. In today's society, the following principle is fully implemented: whoever owns the information owns the world. Therefore, it is called the information society. Of decisive importance are computer technologies, network storage and data transmission systems.