Investments: Essence, Risks and Directions of Post-War Reproduction

Investments and investment activities are categories inherent to any period of economic development. They remain relevant even during wartime and gain particular importance in the post-war reconstruction period. Despite the ongoing comprehensive digitalization of socioeconomic relations, the role of the human factor in production persists and even increases, which has necessitated a new approach to their understanding. The aim of the article is to formulate an approach to understanding investments based on the approaches to defining their essence, taking into account the growing significance of the human factor in the context of wartime migration and digitalization, and to provide a reasoned list of economic sectors that should receive investment support to meet the essential, life-sustaining needs of the population in wartime and post-war reconstruction, based on the identified risks. Investment risks in Ukraine have been revealed, considering global trends and challenges. These are primarily global security challenges, changes in the concentration of international cooperation, the formation of new global macro-regions, powerful global supply chains, and difficulties in joining them; military risks – destruction and damage to industrial and infrastructural potential, the withdrawal of a portion of qualified specialists from economic activities for war needs, labor migration abroad, and a shortage of skilled labor in industry and the economy as a whole; a narrowed domestic market; an increase in tax pressure and tariff burdens on enterprises; restrictions in the foreign exchange market, etc. Along with the priorities of innovative and investment development outlined in the Strategy for the Digital Development of Innovative Activities of Ukraine until 2030, a list of investment activity priorities for enterprises has been provided – the so-called economy of «simple things» and the two-tier economy in wartime and post-war reproduction, taking into account the provision of the primary needs of the population.