On the depreciation of human capital

The question of the contribution of human capital to economic potential is becoming increasingly relevant in modern economic research. The United Nations has established a specialized council for the assessment of human capital. His recommendations have an accounting orientation and are related to taking into account the costs of various types of education in different countries. The issue of depreciation of human capital is recommended to be taken into account in the SNA of countries according to arbitrary methods. In this regard, the purpose of the study was formed - to determine the most appropriate methodology for calculating the depreciation of human capital to the territorial and institutional features of Russian regions. The authors substantiate the need to use the logic of linear depreciation both from the standpoint of conventional accounting and the actual depreciation of human resources. The proposed article presents the author’s approach to accounting for the depreciation of human capital both at the individual level and at the level of individual territories. The analysis of various types of depreciation is carried out and it is shown that linear depreciation of human capital is the most preferable. The methodology for assessing the human capital of UN experts is analyzed, its shortcomings are noted and methodological inconsistencies are highlighted, leading to both underestimation and possible overestimation of the value of human capital. The article proposes the author’s methodology for assessing human capital both at the individual level and at the level of individual territories, taking into account depreciation. The depreciation accounting methodology has been tested on the example of human capital assessment in the Kursk region.