Capital Economics

In classical economics, capital is one of three factors of production, the others being land and labour. The following goods are treated as capital:

• Goods which can be used in the production of other goods (a production factor).
• Goods which are man-made, in contrast to "land," and naturally occurring resources such as geographical locations and minerals.
• Goods which are not used up immediately in the process of production, unlike raw materials or intermediate goods.

In neoclassical economics, capital, capital goods, or real capital is the factor of production that is used to create other goods or services. Capital goods may be obtained with money or financial capital. The total physical capital may be called as the capital stock. In its basic sense, capital is anything that can increase a person's ability to perform economically useful work.

In classical political economy and Marxian economics, capital is money or wealth that grows out of the process of circulation of buying and selling and again buying cycle and forms the basis of the economic system of capitalism.