Human Capital as a Source of Energy for Rural Areas’ Socio-Economic Development—Empirical Evidence for Rural Areas in Poland

Abstract

This article deals with the issue of human capital as a factor responsible for the emergence of development inequalities in rural areas. Its main goal is to analyze and evaluate the existing differences in the distribution of human capital resources in rural areas in Poland in relation to their socio-economic situation. The essence of human capital is expressed through the analogy of energy and capital in relation to the concept of homo energeticus. The essence of human capital is also expressed in terms of two components of its structure, i.e., health and the labor market. The level of human capital was expressed using two synthetic measures, i.e., the human capital ratio in the field of health (HCH) and the labor market (HCLM). The obtained research results indicate the existing differences in the spatial distribution of human capital, resulting in a polarization effect in the center-periphery system, and showing relations with the socio-economic structure of rural areas, their agricultural function, and the ongoing population processes. The assumption about the existing relations between the individual components of the structure of human capital, i.e., health and the labor market, with the socio-economic situation of individual communes should be considered correct. The obtained results of the empirical analysis constitute an important contribution to the description of the mechanism explaining the causes of the existing disproportions in the level of rural development; they allow for a more optimal planning of the instruments supporting their development at the local level. The empirical analysis was carried out in spatial terms with regard to rural areas in Poland defined in accordance with the administrative criterion of the Central Statistical Office at the lowest local (rural) level of data aggregation. The analysis covers rural and urban-rural communes in Poland, i.e., 2172 spatial units. The source of data for the synthetic measures (HCH and HCLM) was Local Data Bank Statistics Poland (LDB SP), and that for the indicator of the level of socio-economic development for rural areas (S-EDI) was the European Fund for Polish Rural Development (EFRWP).