The elements of political economy, with some applications to questions of the day . r the attainment of which we arewilling to undergo some sacrifice, and which is exchange-able. But not all wealth is capital. Only that part of ] wealth is capital which the pos- \sessor intends to use for the pro- \duction of other wealth. Thus,in the diagram, all the wealthof a country may be repre-sented by A, and all its capitalby B. The capital can neverbe greater than A, and ofcourse it is much less than A,because not all wealth, afterit is produced, is used to pro-duce other wealth again : itmay be consu
The elements of political economy, with some applications to questions of the day . r the attainment of which we arewilling to undergo some sacrifice, and which is exchange-able. But not all wealth is capital. Only that part of ] wealth is capital which the pos- \sessor intends to use for the pro- \duction of other wealth. Thus,in the diagram, all the wealthof a country may be repre-sented by A, and all its capitalby B. The capital can neverbe greater than A, and ofcourse it is much less than A,because not all wealth, afterit is produced, is used to pro-duce other wealth again : itmay be consumed in such a way that nothing else is madewhile it is being used up. Thus oats are capital * if theyare to be given to a cart-horse, but not if they are to begiven to a race-horse. A coat may be worn by a man whodoes no work at all, or by a man who tills his fields earlyand late. In the first case, the coat is wealth, but notcapital, and in the second case it is wealth used as , then, is capital which when being used does * Marshall, Economics of Industry, p. CAPITAL AND ITS INCREASE. 37 not aid in making other wealth. All the wealth spent inbuying, furnishing, and sailing a pleasure-yacht is notcapital, because its use in that way does not result in theproduction of other wealth. • 36. When we pass from the most primitive age ofsociety, it is found that labor can not be properly em-ployed without capital. There must be a store of theresults of past labor laid up, so that, for example, it canfurnish an artisan in a chair-factory with lumber and ma-terials on which he can work, with tools, lathes, steam-power, and factory buildings, and with food, clothing, andshelter, while he is occupied in making chairs. If thelaborer does not himself own this capital, it must be fur-nished to him by some one who has it. This, of course,seems clear enough as industries are now carried on; butwe ought to see how this necessity for capital first arose, forwithout it we sh
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade18, booksubjecteconomics, bookyear1887
