What are Resources in Economics?
What are Resources in Economics?
In economics, resource is defined as a service or other asset used to produce goods and services that meet human needs and wants. Also referred to as factors of production, economics classifies resources into four categories — land, labour, capital and enterprise.
A necessary requirement for the creation and functioning of social infrastructure is the establishment of certain minimum service life and design size of facilities (small structures are often ineffective), as well as a minimum concentration of infrastructure facilities. The degree of development of social infrastructure is an indicator of the characteristics of a particular economy and an important factor in the location of industry.
According to foreign researchers, regional economic policy should focus on financial assistance to social infrastructure. A significant part of such events is extremely capital-intensive, provides a return on funds for a long time, therefore the share of state participation in infrastructure programs of the developed countries of the world is traditionally high. For example, it was the development of social infrastructure that was identified as the most important goal of the main plan for the economic and social development of Japan for 1973-77. Issues of the state and development of social infrastructure are periodically considered at meetings of the US Congress. According to the hearings of the 99th US Congress (1986), the social infrastructure includes roads, bridges, ports, transport, artificial reservoirs and aquatic recreational systems, Conservation facilities, parks, recreational facilities, schools, prisons, health and mental health facilities, public buildings and government offices. In the domestic economic literature, the above list includes elements of social infrastructure.
The concept of social infrastructure in domestic science was formed on the verge of branches of socio-economic knowledge from the sphere of non-material production. The first solid works devoted to the study of social infrastructure appeared in the 70s. At first, social infrastructure was often reduced to the service sector, recognizing that it is a collection of industries with a common functional purpose, which is to meet the needs of the population in services.