Özet:

The links between health of the population and economic growth are admitted by medical and economic sciences. Considering aging population in the last decades, mutual influence of health and economic growth comes to the forefront as a compensatory mechanism to maintain economic growth while supply of labor is reducing. Improving the health of the population through efficiency prolongation increases the labor supply, growth of labor productivity. It becomes necessary to explore health as an economic category. The usage of historical research method made it possible to trace the genesis of the categories of health from benefits to the capital. There is no doubt of the utility of health for people, so that from the standpoint of utility theory it is legitimate to consider health as benefit. However, it is not possible to quantify the usefulness of health and pleasure brought by it. Development of human capital theory and the study of its components such as health capital allowed to determine the features of the latter. Monographic research method allowed us to substantiate the necessity for "health capital" as an independent subject of study. Investments in health, its protection, which assist in reducing illness and death, reducing the amortization (depreciation) of the human body, prolongs time that human is capable of working and, therefore, the time of function of the human capital. Investments at the microlevel, as a conscious human activity, investment at mesolevel as the influence of certain sectors (food industry) on human health - for further study.

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