Economic Assessment of Regional Human Capital

Abstract

Sustainable regional development should consider the state and improvement of the quality of regional human capital. To this end, the present study focuses on economic assessment of human capital. Additionally, the research analyses the definitions of the “human capital” category, as well as approaches to identifying its composition and structure. After examining various economic assessment techniques, a definition of regional human capital was proposed. The cost approach was chosen as the most suitable tool for the economic assessment of human capital at the regional level. For economic valuation, the study uses a method developed by Chigoryaev and co-authors, including a number of theoretical and methodological modifications that take into account regional specificities. According to the assessment results, the total human capital in Kamchatka krai exceeded 191 billion roubles, of which more than 104 billion accounted for the fixed human capital. The constant growth of human capital in the period 2011–2018 was noted. Simultaneously, the share of the fixed human capital in the overall structure has been steadily increasing. The values of the chain growth rate of the operating human capital ranged from 1.0 to 1.06, while the values of this rate of the fixed human capital ranged from 1.14 to 2.05. A comparative analysis of the ratio of the total human and physical capital showed the presence of an imbalance: the share of human capital was gradually increasing and reached 37.5 % in 2018. The obtained results can be used to create strategic and programme documents in the field of regional socio-economic development. The modified method of Chigoryaev and co-authors can be applied for the valuation of regional human capital in other studies.