1.2.3 Studying Formation and Development of Human Capital in Russia in the Global Context: Long-term Tendencies, Factors, Structural Dynamics (from the 19th century to the beginning of the 21st century)

Research Area 1. Social Science and Humanities Aspects of Human Capital  → Research Program 1.2 Human Potential in Historical Perspective

Project period

2020-2025

Context of Research Project within a Subject of Human Capital

In modern conditions, human capital is considered as a key factor in the socio-economic development of society. The lack of high-quality human capital not only imposes a number of serious restrictions on economic policy, but also hinders the political development of the country. In addition, the Russian economy will be able to withstand new post-industrial challenges from the external environment only if there are adequate labor resources, since economic recovery is possible only with an appropriate level of quality of human capital. Thus, Russia objectively faces the need to grow human capital corresponding to the tasks for the national economy

Project Aim

Identifying a set of factors in historical data that give the maximum long-term effects relevant for the formation of human capital development programs in modern Russia

Project Objectives:

1. Determining factors that influenced the formation and development of human capital in Russia in economic history perspective, their correlation and the nature of the resulting effect
2. Constructing a data set of input time series (indicators of human development) that are not available in electronic resources, arriving to cost-based indicators of domestic human capital using modified or alternative methods of their calculation, using the data obtained, along with available macroeconomic indicators (GDP, stock of physical capital), to analyze the dynamics of socio-economic development of Russia and its factors
3. Conducting a qualitative analysis of historical evidence, comparing technologies for changing socio-economic institutions that ensure human development at the country level
4. Making forward-looking estimates, determining possible scenarios for the development of Russia's human capital, developing recommendations to ensure the sustainable and balanced economic growth and social development, taking into account the analysis of relevant historical experience

Key Findings

2020

A distinction has been made between the epistemological foundations of the theory of human capital based on the resource/production approach and the concept of human development based on the approach from the standpoint of human capabilities. The concepts of ‘human capital’, ‘human development’, ‘demographic resources’ have been operationalized in relation to the period of the late Russian Empire. Positioning the problems of income inequality in the context of the theory of human capital has been carried out

2021

The degrees and channels of human capital influence on technological development have been revealed. The data series on income inequality in Russia/USSR created by previous researchers have been classified and appraised, the source studies and methodological problems that arise in the process of constructing such series and their interpretation have been analyzed

2022

The data of the audited budget statistics (reports of the State Control of the Russian Empire) for the period 1867-1914 on the financing of education through the departments of the central government and local self-government, as well as data from the Ministry of Public Education for the period 1869-1913 on the financing of education through the business sector and households, data on the financing of education and health care in certain regions in the context of institutional sources, data on the natural indicators of education and health care in certain regions have been collected in electronic format.

Based on the collected data on investment flows for the formation of Russian human capital in the field of education, estimates of its accumulated volume (stock) have been obtained for the first time at replacement cost, for individual years in the period from the end of the XIX century to the beginning of the XX century.

Based on the data available in the literature on the size of the labor force and average wages in industry and agriculture and the average age of the population of 20+ (according to the 1897 census), estimates of the accumulated volume (stock) of human capital as a discounted flow of future income growth for individual years in the period from the end of the XIX century to the beginning of the XX century have been obtained.

Publications

1. Didenko, D. Long-Term Trends in Income Inequality in Russia: What Do Long-Term Series Of Statistical Dynamics Tell Us? (RU) Scientific Digest, Issue No. 5. 2021
2. Didenko, D. Secular Trends of Income Inequality in Russia: A Comparative Analysis of Statistical Dynamics (RU) // Ural Historical Bulletin. 2022. No. 1 (74). pp. 6-15
3. Didenko, D. Income Inequality in contemporary Russia in the Long-Run Historical Perspective // Terra Economicus. 2022. Vol. 20. № 2. pp. 72–85
4. Konchakov, R., Didenko, D. Database Historical Statistics on Human Capital, Economic Development and Urbanization for 1904 in the Russian Empire (Including the Number of Educational Institutions and the Number of Students for These Periods). (RU) 216 KB. Certificate of registration of the database 2022620024, 10.01.2022
5. Konchakov, R., Didenko, D. Database Historical Statistics on Human Capital, Economic Development and Urbanization for 1825, 1840, 1847 in the Russian Empire (Including the Number of Educational Institutions and the Number of Students for These Periods) (RU) Certificate of registration of the database 2022620061, 11.01.2022

RIA

1. Konchakov R.B., Didenko D.V., Karpenko M.A. Database "Historical statistics on human capital in the Siberian provinces of the Russian Empire in the second half of the XIX - XX centuries. (including the number of educational institutions and the number of students for the specified periods)" . Certificate of registration of the database 2022623132, 11/28/2022.
2. Konchakov R.B., Didenko D.V., Karpenko M.A. Database "Historical statistics on human capital in the Siberian provinces of the Russian Empire in the second half of the XIX - XX centuries. (including the number of medical institutions treated and medical personnel for the specified periods)". Certificate of registration of the database 2022623213, 05.12.2022.
3. Konchakov R.B., Nifontova A.N., Didenko D.V., Karpenko M.A. Database "Dynamics of crimes against the person in the Russian Empire from 1891-1894 and for 1904, 1908 and 1913". Certificate of state registration of the database No. 2023623915 dated 11/13/2023
4. Konchakov R.B., Nifontova A.N., Didenko D.V., Karpenko M.A. Database "Dynamics of crimes against the person in the Russian Empire from 1870-1876". Certificate of state registration of the database No. 2023623916 dated 11/13/2023
5. Konchakov R.B., Nifontova A.N., Didenko D.V., Karpenko M.A. Database "Dynamics of crimes against the person in the Russian Empire from 1884-1890". Certificate of state registration of the database No. 2023624025 dated 11/16/2023
6. Konchakov R.B., Nifontova A.N., Didenko D.V., Karpenko M.A. Database "Dynamics of crimes against the person in the Russian Empire from 1877-1883". Certificate of state registration of the database No. 2023624026 dated 11/16/2023
7. Didenko D.V. Database "Data series on age-old trends in income inequality in Russia". Certificate of state registration of the database No. 2023624240 dated 11/28/2023

Conferences

Round table Historical Data for Human Capital and Development Evaluation: Availability, Reliability, Methods of Measurement and Analysis (Moscow, Russia, December 16, 2020)

Round table Human Capital in the Historical Dimension (Moscow, Russia, October 15, 2021)

School and workshops for young researchers Working with Historical Data and Sources on Russia to Obtain Indicators of the Level of Human Capital and Development (Moscow, Russia, November 12, 2021)

D. Didenko's open lecture Human Capital and Income Inequality: from the Russian Empire to the Russian Federation at Yaroslavl State Technical University (RU) (Yaroslavl, Russia, December 9, 2021)

Seminar Contribution of People and Institutions to Economic and Social Development  (RU) (Moscow, Russia, December 13, 2021)

A series of master classes "Human potential: approaches to study and measurement" by the HSE and RANEPA (online, October 28 - December 23, 2023). Bozhechkova A.V. Analysis of the impact of human capital on technological development and economic growth of the Russian Federation (16/12/2023)