The Genesis of Conceptions of Human Capital in Economic Theory

The aim of the article is to study the evolution of scientists’ views on the category of human capital and to reproduce the genesis of this scientific category. Human capital is considered in the article as a multifactorial intellectual system that explores the emergence, development, formation and improvement under the influence of objective and subjective factors. The article analyzes the history of the development of economic thought and the evolution of the theory of human capital. A study of the system of scientific tools of representatives of mercantilism, the school of physiocrats, classical political economy, marginalism, neoliberalism, neoclassical theory, Keynesianism, institutional school and neo-institutionalism is carried out and the possibilities of its application in the global context of human development are determined. The objective economic, organizational, historical, scientific-technical, social and institutional prerequisites for the formation of the conception of human capital are defined. The conception of human capital is a new socioeconomic paradigm, the basis for the formation of which was the transition from the traditional economic system of development to the modern or innovative system. Within the framework of the theory of human capital, a person is considered through the prism of economic processes: social production, reproduction, economic activity. This was the basis for the rapid formation and spread of the theory of human capital. Objective reality emphasizes the importance of the formation and effective use of human capital, and significant scientific achievements on this issue confirm the long process of evolutionary development and relevance regardless of time intervals. The directions for further research include the development of methods for assessing human capital, in particular on the basis of the Human Development Index, a powerful tool for analyzing global processes and transformations in society.