Capital

Abstract

If asked, a Wall Street banker would likely equate their ‘capital’ with money available for investment. In its physical form, this notion of capital would amount to pieces of paper or digits on a computer screen organised to maximise the return for investors. “Make your money work for you”is a common refrain from investment bankers to those fortunate enough to live off their assets. For your average manufacturer, capital may refer to the machinery,transport vehicles and stock in their warehouses. In this case, capital is the physical assets used by the manufacturer to make a profit. For your typical landlord, capital takes the form of land and buildings let out to make a rent. All of this fits nicely with the prejudices of bourgeois economics, moreover, which argues that production only happens when the owners of these various factors (land, labour, capitals and enterprise) bring them together. From this perspective, there are fourindependent factors of production each with a given contribution and each entitled to a given income.