Human Capital in Russia: Investments and Returns

Human capital, especially education, is crucial to the well-being of a country’s economy, State and society. The study examines the measurement of human capital and assesses the return on investment in education. The aim is an econometric assessment of the rates of return on education in the Russian economy. To achieve this goal, the study was divided into three blocks. The first examined the theoretical underpinnings of investment in human capital and its return, the concept and direction of human capital through the prism of investment in education, types of investment in education, the peculiarity of the study of their return. The second block of the study analysed the current situation of the education investment market in the Russian and world economies, as well as empirical estimates of the return on investment in modern literature. The third block assessed the return on investment in education through the success of the individual in the Russian labour market. For this purpose, the Panel Study Micro-data for Russia (RMLS) was used. The results of the study are broadly consistent with earlier findings from a number of domestic and international academic studies in the field, indicating similarities in the mechanisms for generating returns on investment in human capital (example of education) in the Russian Federation and other countries under study. Keywords: investment; return on investment; human capital; education.