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).

1. Introduction

The rural socio-economic space in Poland is characterized by strong demographic, social, cultural, economic, and natural differences, which create different local conditions that differentiate development processes [1,2,3,4]. It should be noted, however, that this is not a feature attributed solely to the Polish reality. Many classic studies emphasize that the development of rural areas results directly from the spatial location of a given territorial unit [5,6,7]; functional infrastructure [8,9]; organic farming [10,11,12]; tourist attractions [13]; cultural tourism [14]; an efficient, visionary leader [7]; and social innovation [15,16,17,18]. In the latest studies, the superior function is assigned to qualitative factors related to the concept of human capital, entrepreneurial attitudes and innovative environment [19,20,21], and social capital [22,23]. For this reason, its role in development processes and the mechanisms explaining development disproportions has been an interesting and significant research problem in recent years.

For many years, the issue of human capital has been continuously present in the literature dealing with the issue of socio-economic development. In light of many years of research, human capital is now recognized as a resource enabling the increase in income and the efficiency of the economy [24,25,26] and a key factor in the process of creating new knowledge [27,28]. Recent scientific reports reveal one-way causality from human capital and urbanization to the ecological footprint, while the causal link between urbanization, human capital, and economic growth is two-way [29]. The authors argue for the development of human capital, a gradual transition to industries based on sustainable growth and knowledge, and the introduction of sustainable development practices in the natural resources sector in order to reduce CO₂ emissions [30,31,32,33].

It is worth adding that the problem of socio-economic inequalities and the causative factors of the existing development disproportions in rural areas is constantly present in world literature and has been discussed in relation to many economies in the world [34,35,36,37,38]. Moreover, the search for new development factors ensuring regional convergence has become a very important trend in contemporary economic and economic geography research [39,40,41]. These issues occupy an important place in the policy towards rural areas at the European Union level, including in the assumptions of the cohesion policy, a territorially oriented long-term strategy aimed at counteracting social exclusion and the ineffective use of development potentials [42,43,44,45]. The European Commission’s latest long-term vision for rural development is to establish four complementary action areas to create stronger, connected, resilient, and prosperous rural areas by 2040 [46].

The object of particular attention on the part of researchers constitutes rural areas, which cover over 90% of the area of the European Union and are inhabited by nearly 60% of its total population. In Poland, they also represent significant potential in terms of space and demographics. According to the Statistics Poland, in 2020, rural areas covered 92.9% of the country’s area and were inhabited by 15.4 million people, or 40.1% of the total population of the country [47].

The constant interest in the issues of rural development is reflected in the growing number of studies dealing with this issue from the perspective of many scientific disciplines [48]. Most of them distinguish two features of rural areas: their differentiation in terms of the level and structure of socio-economic development and spatiality. These issues have been widely documented in the subject’s literature [2,49,50] and EU documents [42,43,44], while the very issue of human capital in rural areas as a factor differentiating the level of development, especially at the rural level, is relatively rarely the subject of empirical analyses.

Many researchers appreciate the importance of human capital and emphasize that without it, or without social capital, the development of rural territorial capital is impossible. However, it seems that the number, level, and detail of analyses of human capital of rural areas is insufficient, and the conclusions and formulated implications are often too general and do not consider the specificity of local communities.

Moreover, in light of the review of research on rural areas and their development factors, the level of empirical analyses undertaken in most cases is nationwide, sometimes interregional, and less often intra-regional, i.e., at the powiat level, while for the lowest local (rural) level, there are basically no studies. As a result, the level of description of human capital assumes a level that is too general, failing to capture the significant and locally different social potentials [51].

Ultimately, there is insufficient knowledge to describe the mechanisms explaining the causes of the differences in the level of development of rural socio-economic structures and the role played by human capital in these processes.

The premises for taking up the issue of human capital in rural areas are strong. Rural areas in Poland, especially those with peripheral features, had experienced a strong depreciation of human capital from the beginning of the 1990s. Thus, the possibilities of their development were assessed as very limited for many years. The rural population, more often than in other regions of the country, struggled with the problem of finding jobs, mainly due to the maladjustment of qualifications or the lack thereof, or exclusion in terms of communication. These were the main drivers of high unemployment (including long-term unemployment) in that period, resulting in the pauperization and marginalization of local communities, and often pathologies as well.

The experience of the last three decades shows that the issue of human capital is important for rural residents, and that education has played an important role in achieving social advancement over the years. The dissemination of higher education after 1990 and the change in the attitudes of the rural population towards being educated contributed to the reduction in the disproportions between the city and the countryside.

Undoubtedly, the educational structure of the rural population has improved [52,53]. However, despite the recent positive changes that have been taking place in the social structure, the condition of human capital in rural areas in Poland has been assessed as low for years—56% of rural areas in Poland have a lower-than-average level of this resource [52]. The most frequently mentioned barriers to its development include limited access to education and low levels of entrepreneurship [54,55], rarely occurring pro-innovative attitudes of Polish farmers, disproportions in the provision of human capital to farmers in relation to other socio-professional groups, and the continuing educational gap between urban and rural residents [52,53,55,56]. The macroeconomic trends pointing to the decreasing share of the agricultural sector and the decline in the labor demand in this sector of the economy [47] force, as it were, the necessity of implementing the multifunctional development of rural areas and increasing the diversification of socio-economic activities located in the countryside. Undoubtedly, the implementation of these goals requires the creation of optimal conditions for the development of human capital.

Researchers dealing with the problem of socio-economic inequalities place special emphasis on the need to take measures to improve the quality of human resources in rural areas [57,58,59], and even to rebuild the social capital of their inhabitants [60,61,62]. They point out that the negative consequence of the ineffective use of these resources are disproportions in both the level and dynamics of development between individuals. Therefore, assuming that the level of development of a given unit is determined by the human capital accumulated in the given unit, knowledge about the state and structure of this resource and the mechanisms explaining the processes of its uneven accumulation in the socio-economic space seems to be of key importance in this context.

The article is a response to the existing research gap. It 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 at the lowest, i.e., rural (local), level.

The subject of the empirical analyses was human capital, its level, and the diversity in its distribution in the socio-economic rural space in Poland. Human capital was defined as an expression of human energy necessary to perform all life activities and contributing to the increase in the well-being of a given individual and the general well-being of society.

In the theoretical part of the article, an answer was sought to the question regarding the structure of human capital, and in which of its components one should seek the sources of human energy necessary for socio-economic processes. In the empirical part, an answer was sought to the question regarding the causes of the existing disproportions in the spatial distribution of human capital resources and its relationship with the level of socio-economic development achieved by individual administrative units (municipalities).

The basis for the considerations in the article was the assumption that energy is inextricably linked with human beings; it is accumulated in the individual elements of the structure (constructs) of human capital. The research issues defined in this way required the author to adopt an appropriate definition perspective of the concept of “human capital” and then its operationalization and quantification at the adopted local (rural) level of data aggregation. The theory of human capital explains that it can be analyzed and assessed at the level of an individual (human) or organization, but also in spatial terms, at the level of a commune, region, or country, as a resource of a certain group of people living in a given area.

The research concept adopted in the article, however, goes beyond the traditional definition and expression of the essence of human capital. The key challenge was to link the issue of human capital with the concept of homo energeticus, which is a kind of holistic approach to human life energy and its use in socio-economic processes. The level of human capital expressed in this way is a certain expression of energy resources accumulated in a given local community living in a given rural area.

The starting point for undertaking the empirical analyses was the phenomenon of the heterogeneity of socio-economic structures and the persistent disproportions in the level of socio-economic development in rural areas, which is widely described in the literature. With regard to the adopted research concept, it was assumed that the diversified level of energy contained in human resources may be the cause of uneven development processes taking place in the rural socio-economic space [2,49,50]. It was assumed that the applied research approach and linking the concept of homo energeticus to the expression of the essence of human capital—may be used to explain the mechanisms of the existing disproportions in the achieved level of socio-economic development by individual units (communes).

In the undertaken empirical analyses, a broader definition of human capital was adopted, considering two elements of its structure: health and the labor market. In the author’s opinion, they seem to best reflect the energy potential of human resources that is necessary for the implementation of all socio-economic processes that are to lead to the development and improvement of the well-being of both individuals and entire societies [57]. The diagnosis and assessment of the differences in the spatial distribution of human capital was carried out on the basis of synthetic measures of human capital estimated for two components of the human capital structure, i.e., health [HCH] and the labor market [HCLM], individually for each administrative unit (here, a commune). For the construction of the indicators, one of the methods of multi-criteria statistical analysis was used, which is suitable for measuring complex phenomena, and which is undoubtedly human capital. The source of data for the so-called empirical indicators describing the essence of human capital were, inter alia, Local Data Bank Statistics Poland (LDB SP).

The assessment of the relationship between the level of human capital and the level of development achieved by individual administrative units was performed using the synthetic indicator of the level of socio-economic development [S-EDI], developed under the Rural Development Monitoring: Part I [49]. The applied research approach allowed for the fulfillment of the criterion of data comparability for the examined communes from both projects. It was a necessary condition for the successful implementation of the adopted research assumptions.

Based on the opinions of experts dealing with the study of the rural socio-economic space, an empirical analysis was carried out at the lowest aggregation level, i.e., the commune. Thus, the subjective scope covers rural areas in Poland, defined as rural and urban-rural communes distinguished according to the Statistics Poland (TERYT) nomenclature based on the administrative criterion. Spatially, the study covered the entire population of the country—a total of 2172 communes.

2. Energy as a Construct of Human Capital and Its Importance for Socio-Economic Processes—Theoretical Framework

2.1. The Essence of Human Capital—A Structural Approach, or Where Should We Look (out) for the Energy Necessary for Socio-Economic Processes?

Human capital is one of the key economic categories that appeared in the 1950s on the path of searching for factors for economic growth and explaining the causes of global inequality. Many researchers have focused on explaining the phenomenon of the accumulation of human resources and its impact on economies. They unequivocally demonstrated, theoretically and empirically, positive linkages between human capital and economic growth [63,64,65,66]. The conclusion drawn from many empirical analyses allows to recognize human capital as a key resource enabling the increase in income and efficiency in the economy and as a pillar of economic processes in the new knowledge-based economy [67,68,69,70].

The current state of knowledge (the theory of human capital) clearly indicates that an important pillar of human capital is good health (i.e., physical and mental health) [71,72,73], which is the basic condition of human life and social well-being [74,75,76,77]. It is important in relation to the adopted research concept. There is also abundant evidence that health is particularly strongly influenced by education, which was originally considered a basic element of the structure of human capital. This evidence can be found both in pioneering works by such authors as G. Becker, Th. Schultz, J. Mincer, or Nelson and Phelps [78,79,80,81,82], and in the relatively recent publications of other researchers [83,84,85,86]. Many of them argue that an additional year of studying significantly reduces exposure to mental disorders, including depression, and increases the level of life satisfaction. Better education leads to better health, improves the physical functions and subjective health of adults of all ages, and reduces age-dependent rates of morbidity, disability [87,88,89], and mortality [90,91], although not all studies state this [92,93,94]. Many years of research show that in microeconomic terms, better educated people are characterized by a much higher value of life expectancy and a higher level of satisfaction, and an individual’s risk of poverty and the probability of adopting behaviors dangerous to health—such as alcohol abuse, smoking, or obesity—are, on average, lower than among people with lower levels of education or without education [95,96,97,98]. Diseases directly reduce the economic activity of a given individual in the labor market and reduce their income [99], thus contributing to a slowdown in economic growth, and not only during their occurrence, but also in the future. Research suggests that the accumulation of economic difficulties contributes to the deterioration of an individual’s health [100]. In turn, the consequences of diseases and poor health on a macroeconomic scale make it necessary to increase public expenditure on health care and social assistance, with a simultaneous decline in the activity of the population in other areas of social life. The above examples show that changes in the economic activity of a given individual caused by his or her health condition may result from changes in the life energy necessary to undertake various activities.

The level of human capital of a given individual or population, although genetically determined, is subject to changes over time, i.e., it may be developed or depreciated. Therefore, it can be assumed that the level of accumulated energy in a given unit changes. Investments play an important role in this process, i.e., by multiplying human capital through education and training, through the acquisition of new skills, self-improvement, investing in health, as well as all other features of labor resources. All these investments affect productivity and are treated as a factor of economic growth [101,102,103,104]. Apart from investments, the condition of this resource and its activity in the labor market is also influenced by the consumption process. Similar to the consumption of real capital, this it occurs in management processes and is the result of transferring a part of its value to the effect. By limiting ourselves only to the biological side of this phenomenon, we can distinguish a temporary, partial, or complete loss of the ability to work. A temporary loss of the ability to work is related to the body’s natural reaction to the physical and mental exertion incurred. It can be restored, on the condition that employees are provided with an appropriate meal or regenerative rest. A partial loss of the ability to work occurs alongside the biological process of the aging of the body and entails that with age a person’s physical and mental performance gradually decreases. The loss of the ability to work may also be related to random events in life (e.g., random accidents, diseases, especially chronic and incurable diseases, etc.). As a result, a person is completely or partially deprived of the opportunity to perform work. The theory of human capital erosion proves that the loss of the broadly understood human capital is caused by unemployment (the depreciation of qualifications, skills, professional contacts, the tendency to work, etc.). The longer it lasts, the greater the loss it causes. When employing the unemployed, employers consider the duration of unemployment as one of the selection criteria They discriminate against people who have been unemployed for a long time, because they are convinced of their relatively lower capacity for productivity caused by, inter alia, the erosion of human capital [105].

To sum up, the phenomena described above may provide some explanation for the changes in energy during life, and thus in the level of human capital as well (the so-called appreciation and depreciation). This has consequences for individual people, and in macroeconomic terms, for individual regions and even the entire economy. This means that although human traits are genetically imparted at birth, they can change, thus an individuals’ level of productivity, work results, and level of well-being (both at the micro and macro levels) may be subject to divergence over time.

The proper expression of the essence of human capital in relation to the concept of homo energeticus requires an understanding of its complexity and its multidimensional nature. It is worth examining its individual components, the so-called constructs, for which the number and variety are very large [106]. It is important to assume that each of these constructs contains a certain amount of energy used in various life processes.

The starting point in the analysis of the structure and essence of human capital in this context was the research of Fisher, who used the phrase “the total value of wealth” to explain the nature of capital. Early research on human capital emphasized the basic constructions of theories, which mainly included knowledge, skills, and abilities. Originally, this type of capital was identified mainly with formal education, primarily with the education and the time devoted to studies, especially, the number of years spent at school [78,107,108]. Later, the definition of human capital was extended to include the aspects of work experience and migration [109,110,111]; physical [71,112] and mental health, although less frequently for the latter [113,114]; motivation; as well as other abilities that may contribute to the improvement of an individual’s accumulation of knowledge, skills, and the competences embodied in individuals and social relations, which constitute a fundamental source of economic productivity [115,116,117,118].

Energy, as a separate component of the structure of human capital, has been included in one of the most holistic definitions of human capital, which was presented by S.R. Domański [119]. A review of the research dealing with the issue of the essence of human capital and the processes of its expression allows us to consider the issue of the labor market as an important element of its structure [78,116,117,120,121]. The labor market in this context should be understood as all those features of an individual that may determine their activity and economic success. The expression of the essence of human capital in this sense can be served by such features as: the qualifications, social competences, and attitudes and behavior towards a given organization [119]; professional experience; education; demographic characteristics (i.e., gender, age, and parents’ business activity); the health and efficiency of the body (the so-called health capital); energy; talents; entrepreneurship; creativity; innovation; and cognitive and psychological factors (attitudes and motivation). The review of the existing definition perspectives allows us to conclude that basically all of human capital so-called constituent constructs express a certain energy. For example, good health, which is, next to education, one of the key pillars of human capital, is capital that is useful in various—not only professional—areas of life. In the broad social consciousness, health is a concept that primarily entails generally understood energy resources, vitality, fitness, the ability to achieve your goals and tasks, and to pursue whatever one desires. The willingness to live, a generally good mood, well-being, and mental harmony are also important. The lack of ailments (i.e., subjective discomfort) and diseases that cause suffering and anxiety, or significantly hinder functioning in important areas of activity, is also of great importance. In the adopted research approach, this understanding of the energy of human resources is of particular importance due to the high value of health for employees. Labor resources, their demographic structure, and the energy related to age, lifestyle, and education determine the condition of the labor market, and ultimately the economy of a given region or country. The experiences of the economies of all countries of the world related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the years 2020–2022 provided numerous examples confirming the impact of the condition of labor resources on economic and social effects. Some researchers treat health as capital they feel every day (feeling energized or being in a good mood), which can be protected, multiplied, and strengthened, but also lost. Vitality, in turn, is considered as the so-called life force, energy, and enthusiasm that contribute to an overall sense of mental and physical well-being. Considering vitality as a measure of a positive attitude towards life, it is easy to understand the relationship between physical training—leading to the release of a number of hormones that regulate the mental state (e.g., endorphins)—and life energy [122]. It can be assumed that the life energy released under the influence of exercise and satisfaction with the improvement of well-being will motivate an individual to continue to undertake physical activity and activity in general.

Considering the diversity of definitions of human capital, and thus the dissimilarity of researchers’ approaches to expressing the essence of the human capital (both in the broad and narrow definition perspectives), the author’s attempt to present its structure is presented in Figure 1. However, there is still no consensus on this matter.

In conclusion, the review of the literature dealing with the structure of human capital provides undeniable evidence that the various constructs mentioned by numerous authors, which have appeared over the years with the extension of the definitional perspective, are an expression of the life energy, vital energy, and mental energy necessary to perform various activities in all socio-economic processes (e.g., those educational, sport-related, cultural, social, business, or professional). Moreover, all elements of the capital structure interact with other socio-economic factors determining the condition and development of each spatial unit [106], regardless of the adopted level of analysis, i.e., country, region, or commune [119,120,121,122,123]. At this point, one should agree with the thesis of L. Karczewski [124] that energy is the basis of human existential freedom. Man as an energy-dependent being needs energy to live, to act in accordance with the adopted values, or to achieve goals. Similarly, the consequences of the lack of energy or its insufficiency can be considered herein.

2.2. Who Is Homo Energeticus? Towards an Analogy between Energy and Capital

Due to the multiplicity and diversity of the authors’ conceptual approaches to expressing the essence of human capital, no consensus has yet been developed as to its universal definition. However, the evolution of research on human capital allows us to recognize that human capital can be viewed from the perspective of the vital energy that is necessary for a given individual to perform work, i.e., in relation to the concept of homo energeticus. This assumption requires both a thorough analysis of the nature of the individual elements of its structure (components), which has been simplified in the section above, and an explanation of what homo energeticus is. This section of the article is devoted to this issue.

The concept of homo energeticus is a new paradigm, a model of human behavior, which is shaped on the path of evolutionary changes in the approach to the use of energy sources and energy management. It is a somewhat holistic approach to explaining the role of energy in human life. In simple terms, the ideal homo energeticus is an individual that consciously manages energy, usually has a certain surplus of it at their disposal, and plans energy expenditure, action, and inaction, that is, activity and rest; withdrawal or deactivation. Its important role, though not the only one, is to maintain adequate resources of vital energy. Regardless of the nature of other homines (homo eoconomicus, homo sustines, homo ecologicus, and others), the basis of human activity is always energy, which is necessary for one’s existential freedom, the possibility of choosing one’s own life, acting in accordance with values, and achieving intended goals [124]. A lack of energy is a cognitive barrier, as it can cause perception disorders or distort it. It may interfere with the ability to assess and predict the consequences of decisions. A lack of energy or the depletion of mental energy may hinder relations with others, but also cause limited access to one’s own resources, knowledge, skills, and competences, and, as a result, their impoverishment and depreciation.

The vast majority of us correspond to the true homo energeticus type i.e., an individual who too often ignores their energetic basis, lives mostly on energetic credit, expends their physical and mental energy wastefully, makes energetic ends meet too quickly or with difficulty, depends on others in their convictions, and are uncontrollably and easily influenced by circumstances, things, or other people. In extreme cases, homo energeticus is subject to various addictions and experiences slow psychophysical weakening, which can be manifested in the growing number of stressed, burnt out, mentally ill people, addicted to various stimulants and other factors, that is, people who are not very creative or innovative [124].

Estimating a person’s energy resources in a quantitative manner at a given point in their life is a difficult task, at least at the present level of scientific development. Vital energy is a partly variable and partly constant quality. As a constant quality, it may be related to some human genetic endowment. The individual probably has little influence on this. However, when we consider it as a variable quality, we can see that energy can change in the daily, weekly, or monthly cycles (e.g., in the morning we usually have more energy than in the evening after a whole exhausting day of work, after various emotional experiences, etc.). From the macroeconomics perspective, it seems that the energy changes observed in the subsequent phases of the life cycle, i.e., from birth through youth, old age, and death, are more important. Undesirable phenomena, such as disabilities (biological, acquired, physical, and mental), accidents at work, and diseases (congenital, acquired, chronic, and temporary), which cause temporary or permanent inability to work, may also affect energy changes.. As a result, the possibilities of performed work and the achieved level of national income on a global scale are spatially diversified.

The described approach, i.e., linking the concept of human capital with the concept of homo energeticus, is not revolutionary. The possibility of economic analysis from the point of view of energy science was considered, among others, by Heryng, who described economic phenomena through the prism of the “moment of social energy”, equated with labor and work in economics (Heryng, p. 243, as cited in [125]). The laws of physics, including the first and second law of thermodynamics, are commonly used to explain human activity and the surrounding reality [126]. They are used in many fields of science, mainly engineering [127], but also in social sciences, i.e., accountancy [128,129,130,131] or psychology [132]. Their application in economic sciences is also not a new phenomenon. Moreover, they constitute the basis for considerations, because such basic scientific concepts of thermodynamics as capital, labor, heat, entropy, and exergy are perceived in the economic aspect. Analogies between physics and economics were analyzed in detail by G.M. Hodgson [133] (pp. 21–22). Among the researchers who, like him, observed the influence of physics on economics, there were also J. Casti, D. Hamilton, B. Ingrao and G. Israel, P. Mirowski, R. Norgaard, and M. Rothschild (cit. after: [134]). Relationships of physics and economics based on analogies can also be found in the works of other researchers, such as J.H.C. Lisman, J. Bryant, or W.M. Saslow (cit. after: [135] (pp. 219–222); [136]) and M. Dobija and B. Kurek [137,138,139]. The achievements of such scientists as W.S. Jevons, L. Walras, F. Edgeworth, V. Pareto, G.B. Antonelli, and W. Laundhardt were important for the idea of combining the study of physics and economics, but the pioneer of the use of physical metaphors in economics is undoubtedly I. Fisher, who was the first scientist to use this kind of analogy (cit. after: [135] (p. 223)).

The existing analogy between energy and capital embodied in assets and determining their value allows for the application of this principle, inter alia, to the issues of measuring human capital. The realization that the human body can be seen as a heat engine and combining it with the adequate degree of energy loss has become the source of a fruitful idea [129,140]. The first law of thermodynamics means that capital does not originate from nothing; energy has its material carrier and, like capital, is allocated to specific resources. The second principle speaks of energy dispersion (so-called entropy), which, when translated into the language of economics, denotes the spontaneous flow of capital at a specific rate. Preserving the substance of capital requires engaging in an activity that fully compensates for the loss of capital. Generally speaking, the second law of thermodynamics concerns the spontaneous flow of energy, which applies to both physics and economics. This denotes the occurrence of a natural loss in the production process which in the theory of human capital can be understood as the process of human capital consumption and the fact that non-working capital decreases in value over time. This is called the depreciation of human capital, which we deal with in the situation of a long-term unemployed person. Their skills are depreciating; thus, their return to the labor market is more difficult and the proposed wages are relatively lower than those of the employed (the effect of labor market erosion). In summary, in physics, the equivalent definition of energy is the ability to perform work. In the concept of connections between the homo energeticus and the theory of human capital, the basis of considerations is the human physical body and its ability to perform work [138,141], adaptation to changes in the environment, and the possibility of creating new solutions [119].

3. Methodology

3.1. Research Purpose and Research Problems

With regard to the above-described linkages between the theory of human capital and the concept of homo energeticus, the aim of the undertaken empirical research was to diagnose the differences in the level of human capital in rural areas and to assess the linkages with their socio-economic situations. The research issues are described in detail by research questions: first—how can the energy of human resources be expressed as one of the constructs of human capital; second—what is the energy level of human capital in rural areas in Poland; third—are there, and what are, the connections between the health condition of rural residents and the energy of labor resources; and fourth—are there any regularities in the distribution of human capital that explain the differences in the level of socio-economic development of rural areas in Poland?

3.2. Method, Scope of Research

The analysis and evaluation of the spatial differentiation of the level of human capital was carried out on the basis of the taxonomic method of hierarchy (patternless) and the classification of multi-feature objects, commonly used in the analysis of socio-economic phenomena [57,142,143]. As a result of the method used, two synthetic measures were estimated, corresponding to the adopted concept of expressing the essence of human capital in two of its areas, i.e., in the area of health (HCH) and the labor market (HCLM) (Figure 2).

In the first stage of the study, the initial collection and selection of diagnostic variables were performed to express the essence of human capital (

Table 1. Empirical features included in the construction of the synthetic measure of human capital.

Constructs of Human Capital	Empirical Indicator: Short Description	Stimulant /De-Stimulant	Data Source
Labor Market [HCLM]	X1—Entities entered in the REGON register on10.000-person in working age population	S	SP Local Data Bank
	X2—Index of migration attractiveness for internal migrations, presenting the relationship between the net migration and the migration turnover	S	IRWIR PAN
	X3—Youth potential indicator, expressed as the share of the number of people of pre-working age to the total number of people of post-working age	S	SP Local Data Bank
	X4—Population at post-working age per 100 persons at pre-working age	D	SP Local Data Bank
	X5—Percentage of the unemployed among the number of people of working age	D	SP Local Data Bank
Health [HCH]	X1—Average number of medical consultations in the field of outpatient health care regarding primary and specialist health care, including consultations provided in clinics of the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of the Interior per 1000 residents	S/D	SP Local Data Bank
	X2—Live births per 1000 population-birth rate	S	SP Local Data Bank
	X3—Deaths per 1000 population-death rate	D	SP Local Data Bank
	X4—Share of the disabled in the total population	D	SP Local Data Bank
	X5—Natural increase per 1000 population	S	SP Local Data Bank
	X6—Share of people aged 0–14 among the number of people aged 60+	S	SP Local Data Bank
	X7—Share of people aged up to 14 among the number of people aged 15–29 (replacement ratio)	S	SP Local Data Bank

Source: Own elaboration.

) in order to create a matrix in the form of X = [x_ij] [144]:

$$\mathit{X}=\left[x_{ij}\right] =\left[\begin{array}{c}\begin{array}{cccc}{x}_{11}& x_{12}& \dots & x_{1n}\\ x_{21}& x_{22}& \cdots & x_{2n}\\ \cdots & \cdots & \cdots & \cdots \\ x_{r1}& x_{r2}& \cdots & x_{rn}\end{array}\end{array}\right] \left(\begin{array}{c}i=1, \dots , r\\ j=1, \dots , n\end{array}\right),$$

(1)

where:

• i—site (commune);
• j—diagnostic variable.

Each object was characterized by a vector of diagnostic variables in the form:

$${\mathit{x}}_i=\left[x_{i1},x_{i2},x_{i3},x_{i4},\dots ,x_{in}\right] \left(i=1, \dots , r\right),$$

(2)

The condition for establishing synthetic variables was to bring all the initial features to mutual comparability by subjecting them to normalization:

for stimulants

$$z_{ij}=\frac{x_{ij}-\underset{k=1, \dots , r}{\min }{x}_{kj}}{\underset{k=1, \dots , r}{\max }{x}_{kj}-\underset{i=k, \dots , r}{\min }{x}_{kj}},$$

(3)

for de-stimulants

$$z_{ij}=\frac{\underset{k=1, \dots , r}{\max }{x}_{kj}-x_{ij}}{\underset{k=1, \dots , r}{\max }{x}_{kj}-\underset{k=1, \dots , r}{\min }{x}_{kj}},$$

(4)

$$z_{ij}\in \left(0,1\right), i=1,2,\dots ,r, j=1,2,\dots ,n,$$

(5)

As a result, the original features of X were transformed into normalized Z features. The X matrix with dimensions (r × n) is inserted into the Z matrix with the same dimensions in the form:

$$Z=(z_{ij})=\left[\begin{array}{cccc}{z}_{11}& z_{12}& \cdots & z_{1n}\\ z_{21}& z_{22}& \cdots & z_{2n}\\ \cdots & \cdots & \cdots & \cdots \\ z_{r1}& z_{r2}& \cdots & z_{rn}\end{array}\right],$$

(6)

Each object is described with a vector of normalized features in the form of:

$${\mathit{z}}_i=\left[z_{i1}, z_{i2} z_{in}\right] i=1, \dots , r,$$

(7)

In the next step, partial variables are aggregated according to the formula:

$$q_i={{\displaystyle \sum }}_{j=1}^n{z}_{ij } i=1, \dots , r,$$

(8)

As a result of dividing the value of q_i by the number of diagnostic variables n, the synthetic variables Q_i in the i-th object were obtained, expressing the assessment of each of the examined objects (municipalities), falling within the range [0, 1] On the basis of the estimated values of the synthetic index Q_i, the objects were linearly ordered according to the level of a given complex phenomenon such that the first place was taken by the object with the highest Q_i value, and the last place was taken by the object with the lowest Q_i value.

Both synthetic measures expressing the level of human capital in the area of health (HCH) and the labor market (HCLM) constituted the basis for hierarchization and classification of municipalities as well as for further analyses and comparisons regarding the linkages with the level of socio-economic development achieved by municipalities. The classification of spatial units (communes) was carried out in an ex-post approach [145,146,147].

The empirical analysis was carried out in spatial terms, assuming the lowest, i.e., local (rural), level of data aggregation. The study covered rural areas in Poland, defined in accordance with the nomenclature of the Statistics Poland (TERYT) [148]. These were rural and rural-urban communes in Poland (2172 communes in total).

3.3. Conceptual Framework, Definition, Indicators, and Data Sources

In light of the above review of research on the essence of human capital, it can be concluded that there is no consensus among researchers on this issue. Human capital should undoubtedly be considered a complex, multidimensional, non-material category that is difficult to express by any indicators. Its essence is most often expressed in a descriptive and explanatory way using the so-called latent constructs. A detailed analysis of the structure of human capital, regardless of the narrow or broad definition adopted by a given researcher, allows us to conclude that all its components show clear connections with the energy necessary to live and undertake various activities in the socio-economic space. In the adopted research concept, human capital is expressed in a broader definition perspective, but is limited to two of its components, i.e., health and the labor market (cf. [57,149,150]). Each of these components has been described by appropriately selected diagnostic features in order to express the energy level as optimally as possible, as initially stated in the conceptual assumptions. The source of the data was the Local Data Bank Statistics Poland. The model uses average annual data for communes from 2015–2018 (see Table 1). Detailed information on the empirical data is presented in

Table 2. Main characteristics of empirical features describing the human capital in area of labor market.

Labor Market
Basic Statistics	X1	X2	X3	X4	X5
Average value	743.290132	−0.049567647	103.98358	102.706	5.502846687
Standard deviation (Sd)	269.4334717	0.212928769	27.2402669	27.65528	2.77965375
Minimum (min)	275.6666667	−0.648351648	26.4890282	40.34758	0.969892908
Maximum (max)	3577.666667	0.721238938	247.846333	377.5148	18.16762103
Coefficient of variation (v)	0.362487621	−4.295720715	0.261967	0.269267	0.505130146
Range (max–min)	3302	1.369590586	221.357305	337.1672	17.19772812
Median (M)	691.1666667	−0.069113271	100.47296	99.52927	4.931615437

Source: own elaboration.

,

Table 3. Main characteristics of empirical variables describing the human capital in area of health.

Health
Basic Statistics	X1	X2	X3	X4	X5	X6	X7
Average value	3574.592122	9.988000307	10.6978269	0.147329	−0.709755218	50.71245	79.8466322
Standard deviation (Sd)	1575.06409	1.680459636	2.41940344	0.044285	3.515462072	13.86843	10.4161237
Minimum (min)	12.40773446	5.396666667	4.18	0	−25.68333333	11.73469	44.8512586
Maximum (max)	26,140.98332	19.8	31.11	0.383036	14.50333333	127.9249	166.838109
Coefficient of variation (v)	0.44062764	0.168247856	0.2261584	0.300583	−4.953062666	0.273472	0.13045163
Range (max–min)	26,128.57558	14.40333333	26.93	0.383036	40.18666667	116.1902	121.986851
Median (M)	3511.904019	9.895	10.395	0.143163	−0.585	49.00945	78.9215176

Source: own elaboration.

and

Table 4. Empirical variables—Pearson correlation coefficient.

		X1	X2	X3	X4	X5	X1	X2	X3	X4	X5	X6	X7
		Labor Market					Health
X1	Labor Market	1.00
X2		0.48	1.00
X3		0.19	0.36	1.00
X4		−0.16	−0.29	−0.90	1.00
X5		−0.29	−0.34	−0.21	0.18	1.00
X1	Health	0.04	−0.12	−0.14	0.13	0.02	1.00
X2		0.11	0.22	0.74	−0.69	−0.29	−0.04	1.00
X3		−0.41	−0.34	−0.70	0.75	0.21	0.08	−0.45	1.00
X4		−0.30	−0.25	−0.29	0.35	0.15	0.05	−0.21	0.42	1.00
X5		0.34	0.34	0.83	−0.85	−0.28	−0.07	0.79	−0.90	−0.39	1.00
X6		0.26	0.39	0.99	−0.89	−0.23	−0.13	0.74	−0.71	−0.30	0.85	1.00
X7		0.54	0.55	0.60	−0.53	−0.38	−0.05	0.58	−0.49	−0.26	0.61	0.66	1.00

Source: own elaboration.

.

An assumption was also made about the equivalence of each of the features, wherein it was from assigning them significance and thus avoided subjectivism [151,152]. The final selection of variables was dictated by both the availability of data and the conscious decision of the author. It was also assumed that the empirical features introduced into the model should meet the following conditions:

-

Reflect the essence of human capital in the adopted research concept as accurately and comprehensively as possible, but the scope of measures should be limited to the most justified;

-

Represent all surveyed units;

-

Maintain a level of correlation that is not too high;

-

Be distinguished by high spatial differentiation (coefficient of variation ≥ 10%) [144,153,154]. A diagram of the operationalization of human capital in relation to the concept of homo energeticus is presented in Figure 2.

The analysis of the relationships between the distribution of human capital in both components of its structure and the level of socio-economic development of rural areas was carried out in relative terms, i.e., in relation to the average levels of indicators. The definition of the level of rural development was adopted from the Rural Development Monitoring: Part 1 and Part 3 (MROW) [49,50]. It was expressed with the indicator of the level of socio-economic development (S-EDI) developed in the above-mentioned projects. The values of the index (S-EDI) were estimated individually for each commune. Thus, the criterion of the comparability of spatial units in both studies was met. As a result, each of the municipalities was positioned in one of four groups of units: A, B, C, or D (cf. Figure 3):

-

Type A are communes called leading units (leaders), with an above-average level of socio-economic development, as well as human capital in a given component;

-

Type B are communes called indirect units, with an above-average level of socio-economic development, but a lower than the national average level of human capital in a given component;

-

Type C are intermediate communes with a lower-than-average level of socio-economic development, but above-average level of human capital in a given component;

-

Type D are communes called deficit (problematic) units, with a lower-than-average level of socio-economic development and a lower-than-average level of human capital in a given component.

4. Results

4.1. The Linkage between the Distribution of Human Capital in the Area of Health (HCH) and the Labor Market (HCLM) and Their Socio-Economic Situation (S-EDI)-Spatial Analysis—Effects of Communes’ Positioning

The level of human capital, both in the area of health and the labor market, measured by the levels of the HCH and HCLM indicators, should be assessed as relatively low. The average values of the measures are 0.379 and 0.406, respectively. In the area of the labor market, 94% of communes are characterized by an average and lower level of human capital, and in the area of health, it is almost 97% of all communes (see

Table 5. HCH and HCLM—basic characteristics for communes in each class in terms of level of human capital.

Index Reference Range (Equal Space)	Level of Human Capital	HCLM [0, 1]	N	N (%)	HCH [0;1]	N	N (%)
0.0–1.90	Class 5 very low	0.150	94	4%	0.152	89	4.1%
0.2–0.39	Class 4 low	0.320	1007	46%	0.320	1209	55.7%
0.4–0.59	Class 3 medium	0.480	913	42%	0.470	818	37.7%
0.6–0.79	Class 2 high	0.665	140	6%	0.665	49	2.3%
0.8–1.0	Class 1 very high	0.870	18	1%	0.867	7	0.3%
		Average value 0.406	Total 2172	100%	Average value 0.379	Total 2172	100%

Source: Own elaboration.

).

In light of the presented empirical material, it turns out that in rural areas in Poland, there are strong disproportions in the spatial distribution of human capital resources in both its components (HCH and HCLM) (Figure 4 and Figure 5). The effect of a strong polarization was also revealed; that is, there are two extremely specific groups of communes: on the one hand, there are “leaders” communes with a high level of development and high-quality human resources with high energy potential, and on the other hand, there are problematic communes with an insufficient level of development and deficits of human capital, evincing a low energy potential. At the same time, a regularity was observed, wherein better-quality human resources concentrate more strongly on areas with a higher level of socio-economic development, and vice versa (Figure 4 and Figure 5).

When assessing the distribution of human capital resources, and thus the energy potential necessary to engage in activities in socio-economic processes, it turns out that an above-average, favorable assessment of labor markets, combined with an above-average assessment of human capital in the area of health, concerned 34% of the municipalities throughout Poland (type A). As expected, the highest concentration of these municipalities was observed in regions with the highest level of socio-economic development, i.e., in Wielkopolska (in fact, throughout its entire territory), Gdańsk Pomerania and Kashubia, around the Szczecin agglomeration, and in the coastal communes’ belt (but with the exception of communes in the western part of Poland). In the central part of the country, type A municipalities are grouped only in the suburban areas, for which the strongest is around Warsaw. In relation to other regional cities, a concentration effect is visible, but it is weaker and concerns several of the largest cities, i.e., Lublin, Białystok, Radom, Kielce, Siedlce, and Rzeszów (Figure 4 and Figure 5). A detailed analysis of the data characterizing these rural labor markets shows that the availability of the inhabitants of these communes to non-agricultural jobs is high. There are well-developed conditions for transport infrastructure and communication connections here; thus, the possibilities of finding employment in the city are much better compared to the situation of other types of communes. The health conditions of the inhabitants are good, as is their demographic resilience [2,49,50]. Specific to the surplus human capital in communes is the high vitality and energy of labor resources, reflected in the favorable demographic structure of the population. From the perspective of further development processes, these features should be assessed as strong values. Apart from the demographic and health conditions, the strengths of the type A communes are the relatively high social wealth and the high level of functional knowledge of their inhabitants [57,145,146].

In the eastern and central regions of Poland, apart from a few enclaves around larger cities, the dominant share is that of the type D problem communes, characterized by a deficit of health capital and underdeveloped labor markets. These are mainly peripheral communes, which are particularly vulnerable to being further drained of the most valuable human resources. Unfortunately, on a national scale, the type D communes constitute as much as 39% of all communes. Territorially, these communes overlap with communes with a low level of socio-economic development (Figure 4 and Figure 5). With reference to the typology of rural areas according to the MROW [2,49,50] and the characteristics of local socio-economic structures, it turns out that most of these areas are located in places with underdeveloped non-agricultural functions, and the structures of the local economy are still largely based on agriculture. This remark does not apply to communes in the Małopolska region, the vicinity of Kielce, and northern communes in the Podkarpackie Voivodeship, whose inhabitants obtain income from various sources of fragmented agricultural activity.

The intermediate communes described as type B are characterized by a relatively favorable condition in terms of the labor market, but they are affected by the problem of aging labor resources (Figure 4 and Figure 5). Their concentration in rural spaces is relatively weak, and they usually create a buffer zone between the big-city labor markets of the largest cities, i.e., Warsaw, Łódź, Kraków, and Wrocław, and the peripheral markets located far away from them. These communes do not exist in the northern regions of Poland.

Due to their specificity and historical conditions, the intermediate communes defined as type C are a special group, located mainly in the northern part of the country, the so-called Recovered Territories. The development of local economic structures in the period of transformation, initiated in the 1990s, and the effects of assuming the legacy of the socialized economy (PGRs), distances these areas in many aspects of socio-economic life to this day. The results of this observation are confirmed by the latest research on the structures of socio-economic development of the rural areas in Poland [2,49,50,155]. The local economic structures are relatively underdeveloped, the rural labor markets are not very attractive, and, what is more, it is difficult to find work locally. These negative factors contribute to the migration outflow of young people from these areas. The spatial distance that separates these communes from the city markets means that unemployment there remains at the highest level in the country. On the scale of the entire country, the share of communes at risk of communication exclusion in these areas is relatively the highest [156,157,158]. Relatively recently (around 2019), communication exclusion has been officially raised in scientific and political discussions. This problem is described in the latest scientific reports, emphasizing that it is currently one of the largest barriers to the development of human capital in rural areas in Poland [57].

Due to the specificity of population processes taking place in these areas (mainly after World War II), type C communes differ from type B communes with respect to a relatively younger demographic structure of the population [159]. Nevertheless, it should be clearly emphasized that the lack of development prospects for the inhabitants of most communes in these areas is the cause of an intense outflow of people and a strong drain of human resources. Population growth does not compensate for the loss of population, which poses a serious threat to the further development of these communes in the near future.

In summary, the analysis of the spatial distribution of the level of human capital in both of its components, i.e., health and the labor market, gives rise to the conclusion that the most valuable human resources are concentrated in rural suburban areas surrounding the largest urban agglomerations. The comparative approach to the typology of depopulating communes and concentrating rural population according to Rosner [159,160] and the research by Rosner and Wesołowska [155] proves to be helpful in the analysis. It indicates that due to the population processes taking place in rural areas in Poland, the areas experiencing a strong outflow of people and a decreasing population are mostly municipalities with a deficit of human capital (type C and D). The areas recording an influx of people and an increase in their population levels correspond to the communes of the so-called type A surplus. For these communes, because of the ongoing migrations, a strong concentration of high-quality human capital is an undeniable benefit.

In conclusion, the health condition and the demographic potential of labor resources are of key importance for the functioning of any economy in which the labor market is the most important link. The good condition of the labor market resulting from its energy demographic resources allows for the development and improvement of the prosperity of a given community. The collected empirical material confirms this relationship. Strong relationships were statistically verified and confirmed for both analyzed components of the human capital structure (r = +0.72). (Figure 6,

Table 6. Structure of communes in terms of the level of the measure [S-EDI] and individual components of human capital [HCH] and [HCLM] (in %). Pearson correlation.

	[S-EDI] rel.	[HCLM]	[HCH]
[S-EDI] rel.	1.000
[HCLM]	0.766	1.000
[HCH]	0.539	0.723	1.000

Source: own elaboration.

).

4.2. The Linkage Explaining the Spatial Distribution of Human Capital and the Consequences for the Socio-Economic Situation of Rural Areas

The obtained image of the distribution of human capital resources in rural areas and the analysis of the factors that determine them indicate certain consequences for the current socio-economic situation of the rural areas under study and, at the same time, for the changes taking place in the structures of local economies in the near future (Figure 7 and Figure 8,

Table 7. Structure of communes in terms of the level of the measure [S-EDI] and individual components of human capital (in %). Effects of grouping communes.

	Groups of Communes	Group A Liders	Group B Intermediate Ones with an Unfavorable Demographic Structure	Group C Intermediate with a Favorable Demographic Structure	Group D Problematic	Total
Component of Human Capital
[HCLM]		35%	12%	12%	41%	100%
[HCH]		30%	17%	18%	35%	100%

Source: own elaboration.

).

The trend of global transformation towards the knowledge economy means that local employment opportunities in the agricultural sector are becoming increasingly limited. At the same time, the level of development of non-agricultural sectors and the employment opportunities within them vary locally (nationally and within regions) and depend on many factors. Moreover, rural areas with a high share of traditional agricultural functions in the economy seem to be fairly unattractive in terms of employment for young people. The young labor resources with the greatest energy (demographic) potential are pushed out of areas with unattractive labor markets (type D and C; e.g., from communes in the so-called former state-owned farms located in Central Pomerania, the Lubuskie voivodship, the south-western part of Dolnośląskie, and the northern part of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship) and travel to larger centers, usually regional urban development centers, i.e., Gdańsk, Warsaw, Poznań, Szczecin, and Wrocław. As a result of population flows, “better-quality” capital is accumulated either in cities or in rural areas with attractive income prospects, grouping around these agglomerations. The described mechanism is confirmed by the results of the statistical Pearson tests. It turns out that a higher level of socio-economic development is observed in communes characterized by a lower intensity of unemployment (r = −0.52) and a younger demographic structure of their labor resources (r = −0.36). At the same time, it is accompanied by a higher level of entrepreneurship (r = +0.77) resulting from the greater employment opportunities in non-agricultural sectors and high professional activity of the incoming young, energetic, and usually better educated people (r = +0.38).

A serious threat to the further development processes of many communes (mainly types C and type D) is the permanent phenomenon of the draining of resources and their inflow to other more attractive parts of the country. This phenomenon is a particularly heavy burden for rural areas with a low level of attractiveness of the labor market. In addition, although it seems to be a natural process, it contributes to a lasting deepening of the existing disproportions, both in the level of human capital and the level of socio-economic development. As a result, on the one hand, highly developed centers are created, with a high share of human capital. On the other hand, there are municipalities with a low level of development, which, as a result of the outflow of young people, record a permanent loss of population. The long-term consequence of such migration is the change of the local demographic structures of the population and the inhibition of development at the local level. Mainly old people remain in the area, and the accompanying low or negative birth rate does not compensate the outflow of the population. Such a pessimistic scenario of human resources development concerns rural areas in the so-called “former territories” remaining on the historical border of the Russian partition (cf. [155]). The described phenomenon is also confirmed by verified correlation relationships. The level of development is higher in communes characterized by a high demographic potential expressed via positive population growth (r = +0.54), low mortality (r = −0.60), a young demographic structure of human resources (r = +0.44 and r = +0.66), and relatively low inactivity caused by disability (r = −0.41). All of the above features strongly reflect the energy potential of the population living in a given area, i.e., they determine its development possibilities.

In summary, strong linkages between the level of development of a given individual and the labor market, health, and the level of wealth of a society are the result of natural mechanisms occurring in the socio-economic space. The subject of further extensive discussions, although still pending, is to establish the cause and effect of this development. Is the high level of human capital the result of the high level of development achieved by a given unit, or vice versa, is it the accumulation of human capital in a given area that results in a high level of socio-economic development in the future?

5. Discussion

In light of the presented empirical research results, it appears that human capital, similar to physical or financial capital, tends to be spatially concentrated in areas with a high level of socio-economic development, mainly in cities and large metropolises (Figure 7 and Figure 8, Table 7). Consequently, the migration of high-quality human resources in the spatial dimension favors the development of some areas or the marginalization of others, leading to their peripheralization and the deceleration of their development processes [161,162]. This phenomenon is very visible in the analyzed rural space and, moreover, it is of particular importance in relation to the possibilities (conditions) for the development of many communes because a significant feature of rural areas, at least for most of them, is peripherality. The described dependence has long been known to economists and researchers of migration (i.e., [163,164,165]). Similar results of observations on the displacement of population in the nineteenth century in England [166] confirmed the tendency of people to leave less-developed regions, which consequently offered fewer opportunities, and to travel to those that, in their opinion, offered more attractive opportunities to live and work.

The above-described regularities in the spatial distribution of human capital are consistent with the effect of the gravitational model described in the literature and the concept of the polarization in space in the center–periphery system (Hirschman, Myrdal) [167]. According to the assumptions of this theory of regional development, once can find the reasons for the formation of the so-called winning regions (development poles) and losing regions (hinterland regions) and describe the mechanism by which inequalities arise. In light of the above studies, stronger centers, the so-called growth centers (herein, these are suburban zones of larger agglomerations), attract better-quality resources from remote and less attractive rural areas, while at the same time washing them out of the most valuable resource of strategic importance for their current and future development (washout effect and backwash effects). The real danger resulting from this process for deficit municipalities is the intensification of the processes of inequality and the deepening of the diversification of rural space, which leads to the creation of a few leading regions on the one hand and numerous peripheral areas on the other [58,59]. According to experts, exiting this state is generally difficult and even impossible without outside help [168,169], and even with such help the mobilization of internal endogenous potential is required. In light of recent reports, the proper identification of local potentials is often carried out on the basis of the erroneous assumption that marginalized, peripheral municipalities are not very diverse and do not have any distinctive potentials. Therefore, it is necessary to revise the existing approaches to the study of local potentials in rural marginalized areas and treat them as a set of similar (due to their functions or socio-economic structures, location, and distance from urban centers) but internally different units. Only such a research approach will capture their local diversity, which may be the basis for their development [58,59].

In line with the author’s expectations, the processes of the concentration of human capital are related to the level of socio-economic development of rural areas. Moreover, its clear connections with the structure of the local economy, mainly with the advancement of the process of disagrarization, have been observed. The result of this observation was also confirmed in a comparative approach to the typology of rural areas in terms of the level and structure of socio-economic development according to MROW [2,49]. This indicates that a stronger concentration of better-quality human capital resources, and thus energy resources, takes place in relatively better-developed areas and is the result of the ongoing transformation processes in the structure of the local economy towards disagrarization and the marginalization of agricultural functions. These changes are conducive to the influx of people from deficit municipalities for work purposes and the perception that better-developed municipalities are more attractive places to live, compared to deficit municipalities. Under the current conditions, relatively stronger processes of the concentration of high-quality human capital take place in communes that have entered the stage of an advanced process of multifunctional development and in communes with little use of agricultural functions. The mechanism of the cumulative causality means that the lack of non-agricultural jobs in peripheral or marginalized rural areas exacerbates the migratory effects and the outflow of the most active and enterprising people, further weakening their local economic potential [58]. Generally speaking, the greater the use of non-agricultural functions of a given commune and its orientation towards multifunctional development, the greater the tendency to concentrate higher-quality human capital in this commune (

Table 8. The level of human capital in area of health [HCH] and labor market [HCLM] vs. rural areas by MROW. The structures of rural areas.

Type of Communes (MROW)	N	N (%)	HCLM	Min	Max	HCH	Min	Max
	Total 2172	Total 100%	(Average Values)			(Average Values)
type 1	490	23%	0.34454	0	0.474238	0.377994	0.017383	0.538566
type 2	399	18%	0.408549	0.129002	0.651376	0.38153	0.163656	0.702753
type 3	466	21%	0.407769	0.113582	0.595104	0.368213	0	0.571027
type 4	187	9%	0.412996	0.176368	0.692333	0.378178	0.17582	0.601037
type 5	382	18%	0.420648	0.21886	0	0.384184	0.159745	0.862982
type 6	196	9%	0.434208	0.270769	0.889564	0.378256	0.07638	0.759891
type 7	52	2%	0.508515	0.396962	1	0.406019	0.263309	1
description: type 1. Rural Areas Dominated by Traditional Agriculture type 2. Rural Areas Dominated by Large-Scale Agriculture type 3. Rural Areas Dominated by Agriculture—Intermediate type 4. Rural Areas with Dispersed Agriculture and Multiple Sources of Income Type 5. Multifunctional Rural Areas—Balance of Sectors type 6. Suburban Rural Areas with Reduced Agriculture type 7. Highly urbanized rural areas

Source: own elaboration based on own calculation and [50].

,

Table 9. The level of human capital in area of health [HCH] vs type of rural areas by MROW.

Component of Human Capital: Health
Type of Communes (MROW)									Total [N]
Index Reference Range HCH	Classes (Level of HCH)	Type 1	Type 2	Type 3	Type 4	Type 5	Type 6	Type 7
0.0–0.19	Class 5 very low	0	0	0	0	1	0	6	7
0.2–0.39	Class 4 low	0	8	0	1	20	4	16	49
0.4–0.59	Class 3 medium	50	210	126	95	199	115	23	818
0.6–0.79	Class 2 high	371	177	331	90	158	75	7	1209
0.8–1.0	Class 1 very high	69	4	9	1	4	2	0	89
	total 100%	490	399	466	187	382	196	52	2172

Source: own elaboration based on own calculation and [50].

and

Table 10. The level of human capital in area of labor market [HCLM] vs. rural areas by MROW.

Component of Human Capital: Labor Market
Type of Communes (MROW)									Total [N]
Index Reference Range HCLM	Classes (Level of HCH)	Type 1	Type 2	Type 3	Type 4	Type 5	Type 6	Type 7
0.0–0.19	Class 5 very low	0	0	0	0	3	1	14	18
0.2–0.39	Class 4 low	0	5	0	9	51	47	28	140
0.4–0.59	Class 3 medium	25	151	215	122	267	124	9	913
0.6–0.79	Class 2 high	383	236	247	55	61	24	1	1007
0.8–1.0	Class 1 very high	82	7	4	1	0	0	0	94
	total 100%	490	399	466	187	382	196	52	2172

Source: own elaboration based on own calculation and [50].

).

There is also a clearly noticeable relationship between the distribution of human capital resources and the agricultural function in connection with historical factors (concerning the historical period of partitions and administrative changes of the state borders after the end of World War II) and population processes taking place at different times with different intensities and directions in individual regions of the country. The unfavorable migration processes intensify demographic phenomena in the long run. The outflow of young people, including women and people of working age, leads to a deformation of the demographic structure of local labor resources, thus weakening the economic activity of the population in the depopulating area [168,169]. The end result of these processes are permanent changes in the state of the population and the shaping of its contemporary demographic structure, e.g., [159]. This observation was confirmed in the latest research by other authors [155]. These factors overlap with the currently occurring population processes: on the one hand, an inflow of people is observed, registered mainly in central municipalities with a relatively high level of human capital, which is highly urbanized, and which makes marginal use of agriculture in the local economy. On the other hand, we are dealing with a strong outflow of people registered mainly by communes with a deficit in human capital, with low and very low levels of development, and strong peripheral features. Moreover, it is estimated that since the outflow of populations is experienced mainly by peripheral municipalities with a low degree of disagrarization, which are additionally affected by the problem of transport exclusion [157], it can, therefore, be expected that the process of catching up in terms of development in these areas will unfortunately be seriously slowed down.

In light of the presented empirical material, it turns out that the distribution of human capital resources shows the characteristics of interregional and intra-regional differentiation, similar to the level of development of local socio-economic structures. They are the result of several factors acting simultaneously (both now and in the past), but in a different manner and intensity in different regions of Poland. It should be emphasized that the specific local conditions (of a given place), as well as the historical factors that have created a strong framework for demographic changes, appear to be a strong foundation for the shaping of the current energetic state of human resources. The location factor (location rent) also has an impact, creating more favorable conditions for the accumulation of human capital and more dynamic development of some communes, or condemning the marginalization and spatial, educational, economic, and social exclusion of inhabitants of other communes. An exhaustive description of the detailed effects caused by each of these factors (both collectively and separately) requires the preparation of a separate article.

6. Summary

The author’s concept of expressing the essence of human capital presented in the article in light of the idea of homo energeticus is a new proposal aimed at diagnosing and explaining the causes of development disproportions in rural areas. In addition, although it seems that the issues of rural development factors (endo and exogenous) have been quite broadly described in the literature on the subject, the study of literature can provide a significant contribution to gaining new knowledge regarding (1) how to express the essence of human capital, (2) what the disproportions in the distribution of human capital in rural areas are, and (3) whether the spatial distribution of human capital is related to the phenomenon of inequalities in the processes of socio-economic development.

This article provides new knowledge about the state of human capital and the mechanisms responsible for the existing state of differentiation. It proves that the state of human capital in rural areas in Poland is low, while at the same time there are strong disproportions in its spatial distribution. Factors such as location rent, proximity to the city, and access to the labor market in the non-agricultural sector make the higher level of capital accumulate more strongly around more developed (large) urban agglomerations. Weaker development processes and a strong outflow of human resources are observed in communes that have not been following (or where it is a slow process) the path of multifunctional development. There are premises to positively verify the assumption that the degree of differentiation in the level of socio-economic development depends on the accumulated energy in human resources. The energy embodied in human capital may undergo spatial accumulation or depreciation processes under the influence of various socio-economic processes. It is also the result of factors operating today and in the past. It turns out that simultaneous factors such as demographic processes (e.g., strong migration outflow and low population growth) lead to the marginalization of many communes. This may be related to the broadly understood (unfavorable) nature of the geographic location and a lack of environmental values, but above all, it is likely due to the low levels of social and human capital. The general result of the analyses is that in the long-term perspective, in many regions of the country, processes will occur that lead to the disappearance of villages with a disadvantageous location with for sustainable, multifunctional development, and the growth of others with a degree of greater development. In light of the obtained results, the subject of further interest for researchers and experts in local development should become, in particular, problem rural areas, those with low human capital, and those exposed to depopulation processes and the drainage of human resources. Local authorities and market-related institutions should show great interest and commitment to activities that effectively prevent the outflow of young and well-educated staff from these communes and create optimal local conditions for their development “on the spot”.

The local approach used in the empirical analysis and the comprehensiveness of the research, considering the total population of communes in Poland, constitute an important contribution to the state of knowledge about rural areas, and although it is relatively rarely practiced due to the existing barriers, it is an expected response to voices from experts who study the development of rural socio-economic structures [58,59]. Undertaking analyses at the commune level turned out to be extremely useful for obtaining detailed information, as it allowed us to show the state of the existing local disproportions at the level of specific communes. It turns out that, geographically, communes are assigned to one region, but often differ in terms of human potential, which is impossible to capture in research at the regional or even powiat level The practical applications of this research can help conduct the most accurate diagnosis and planning of development support instruments dedicated to a specific commune (or a group of communes), considering its individual situation, i.e., both potentials and staff deficits, location, historical conditions, and current migration processes. This is of key importance because many scientific reports dealing with the issues of rural areas define the regional support policy as ineffective and too general with respect to formulating the support instruments, ultimately preventing the achievement of the assumed effects by individual communes.

Finally, it is worth adding that the empirical research undertaken in the article is a pillar of contemporary research on the relationship between the non-material factors responsible for the development of rural areas and their socio-economic situation. However, it should be clearly emphasized that discussions on the role of human capital in development processes should be conducted in parallel with other important rural issues, such as building social bonds between villages [170,171], multifunctionality [172,173,174,175], and the wider concept of sustainable development [176,177,178,179]. The area of urgent intervention should also include the issue of communication exclusion, which is currently perceived as the most serious barrier to the development of human capital in peripheral areas, both in Poland and in the entire EU [46,57,180]. This issue is related to the mechanisms of the distribution of human capital in the Polish rural space. Due to the limited access to preschool education services, medical services, or even state administration, many communes are exposed to permanent marginalization.