Such are in general the effects of the increase of stock upon industry
and its productive
powers.
In the following book I have endeavoured to
explain the nature of stock, the effects of its
accumulation into capitals of
different kinds, and the effects of the different employments of
those
capitals. This book is divided into five chapters. In the first chapter, I have
endeavoured
to show what are the different parts or branches into which the
stock, either of an individual,
or of a great society, naturally divides
itself. In the second, I have endeavoured to explain the
nature and operation
of money considered as a particular branch of the general stock of
the
society. The stock which is accumulated into a capital, may either be
employed by the person
to whom it belongs, or it may be lent to some other
person. In the third and fourth chapters, I
have endeavoured to examine the
manner in which it operates in both these situations. The
fifth and last
chapter treats of the different effects which the different employments of
capital
immediately produce Nike Free
Run 2 UK
upon the quantity both of national industry, and of the annual
produce of
land and labour.
CHAPTER I
Of the Division of Stock
WHEN
the stock which a man possesses is no more than sufficient to maintain him for a
few
days or a few weeks, he seldom thinks of deriving any revenue from it. He
consumes it as
sparingly as he can, and endeavours by his labour to acquire
something which may supply its
place before it be consumed altogether. His
revenue is, in this case, derived from his labour
only. This is the state of
the greater part of the labouring poor in all countries.
But when he
possesses stock sufficient to maintain him for months or years, he
naturally
endeavours to derive a revenue from the greater part of it;
reserving only so much for his
immediate consumption as may maintain him till
this revenue begins to come in. His whole
stock, therefore, is distinguished
into two parts. That part which, he expects, is to afford him
this revenue,
is called his capital. The other is that which supplies his
immediate
consumption; and which consists either, first, in that portion of
his whole stock which was
originally reserved for this purpose; or, secondly,
in his revenue, from whatever source
derived, as it gradually comes in; or,
thirdly, in such things as had been purchased by either of
these in former
years, and which are not yet entirely consumed; such as a stock of
clothes,
household furniture, and the like. In one, or other, or all of these
three articles, consists the
stock which men commonly reserve for their own
immediate consumption.
There are two different ways in which a capital may be
employed so as to yield a revenue
or profit to its employer.
First, it may
be employed in raising, manufacturing, or purchasing goods, and selling
them
again with a profit. The capital employed in this manner yields no Nike Free 3.0
V4 UK
revenue or profit to its
employer, while it either remains in his
possession, or continues in the same shape. The goods
of the merchant yield
him no revenue or profit till he sells them for money, and the money
yields
him as little till it is again exchanged for goods. His capital is continually
going from
him in one shape, and returning to him in another, and it is only
by means of such circulation,
or successive exchanges, that it can yield him
any profit. Such capitals, therefore, may very
properly be called circulating
capitals.
Secondly, it may be employed in the improvement of land, in the
purchase of useful
machines and instruments of trade, or in suchlike things
as yield a revenue or profit without
changing masters, or circulating any
further. Such capitals, therefore, may very properly be
called fixed
capitals.
Different occupations require very different proportions between
the fixed and circulating
capitals employed in them.