Capital

Now nobody ever contended that one could produce without working. But neither is it possible to produce without capital goods, the previously produced factors of further production.

Planning for Freedom, p. 111

What the workers must learn is that the only reason why wage rates are higher in the United States is that the per head quota of capital invested is higher.

Planning for Freedom, p. 92

There are no means by which the general standard of living can be raised other than by accelerating the increase of capital as compared with population.

Planning for Freedom, pp. 5–6

In a given economic situation, the opportunities for production, which may actually be carried out, are limited by the supply of capital goods available.

On the Manipulation of Money and Credit, p. 125

It is nonsensical to impute the whole product to the purveyors of labor and to pass over in silence the contribution of the purveyors of capital and of entrepreneurial ideas. What brings forth usable goods is not physical effort as such, but physical effort aptly directed by the human mind toward a definite goal.

Human Action, No Entry; p. 301

All capital goods sooner or later enter into final products and cease to exist through use, consumption, wear and tear.

Human Action, p. 514; p. 517

Profit-seeking business is compelled to employ the most efficient methods of production. What checks a businessman’s endeavors to improve the equipment of his firm is only lack of capital.

Human Action, p. 769; p. 775

All the effusions of the contemporary welfare school are, like those of the socialist authors, based on the implicit assumption that there is an abundant supply of capital goods. Then, of course, it seems easy to find a remedy for all ills, to give to everybody “according to his needs” and to make everyone perfectly happy.

Human Action, p. 844; p. 848

When pushed hard by economists, some welfare propagandists and socialists admit that impairment of the average standard of living can only be avoided by the maintenance of capital already accumulated and that economic improvement depends on accumulation of additional capital.

Human Action, p. 844; p. 848

History does not provide any example of capital accumulation brought about by a government. As far as governments invested in the construction of roads, railroads, and other useful public works, the capital needed was provided by the savings of individual citizens and borrowed by the government.

Human Action, p. 847; p. 851

Capital does not reproduce itself.

Socialism, p. 177