capital

capital
According to modern economics, one of four factors of production—the others being land, labour, and enterprise. That capital is not, first and foremost, a sum of money, was the great discovery of early political economy, which stressed that expansion of the wealth of a society lay in expansion of its productive powers. Capital consists of tools, machinery, plant, and any other humanly made material or equipment which, not being used for immediate consumption, contributes to or enhances productive work. Since Adam Smith it has also been customary to distinguish between circulating capital and fixed capital. The former is used to purchase commodities, chiefly raw materials and labour effort, and sell them again as a product at a profit. The latter, for example machines and tools, yields a profit without circulating further.

According to Karl Marx, [The entire page is 395 words long]

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