Human capital and effective development

Introduction. The relevance of the study is associated with the emerging tendency to overcome the purely "cost" approaches in economic science. Specialists raise the question of revising the existing methods for assessing human capital, the need to reckon with the capital of culture, cultural and moral capital. Methods. The research methodology was a set of approaches and methods for studying human capital: a historical approach, factor and comparative analysis. Results and discussion. The article examines the quality of human capital at two levels of its management and development, i.e. the "highest" and "grassroots": at the level of ordinary workers and entrepreneurs, firms and enterprises, and at the level that defines for them the "rules of the game", i.e. the elite. Attention is drawn to the cultural and historical specifics of the study of the phenomenon, affecting current activities. The author traces the tendency to overcome purely "cost" approaches in economic science, as part of the "trend", raises the question of revising existing methods for assessing human capital, the need to reckon with cultural capital, cultural and moral capital. Conclusions. The transition to an innovative development path is impossible without the involvement of human capital, the development of which will enhance the country's competitiveness and ensure economic development