Fundamentals of Economics. Доловова Н.Н - 63 стр.

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storage, transportation, and distribution facilities used in producing goods and
services and getting them to the ultimate consumer. The process of producing and
accumulating capital goods is known as investment.
Two other points are pertinent. First, capital goods ("tools") differ from
consumer goods in that the latter satisfy wants directly, whereas the former do so
indirectly by facilitating the production of consumable goods. Second, the term
"capital" as here defined does not refer to money. True, business executives and
economists often talk of "money capital," meaning money which is available for use
in the purchase of machinery, equipment, and other productive facilities. But money,
as such, produces nothing: hence, it is not to be considered as an economic resource.
Real capital— tools, machinery, and other productive equipment - is an economic
resource; money or financial capital is not.
LABOR Labor is a broad term which the economist uses in referring to all of
the physical and mental talents of men and women which are usable in producing
goods and services (with the exception of a special set of human talents—
entrepreneurial ability—which, because of their special significance in a capitalistic
economy, we choose to consider separately). Thus the services of a logger, retail
clerk, machinist, teacher, professional football player, and nuclear physicist all fall
under the general heading of labor.
ENTREPRENEURIAL ABILITY Finally, what can be said about this special
human resource which we label entrepreneurial ability, or, more simply, enterprise?
We shall give the term a specific meaning by assigning four related functions to the
entrepreneur.
1. The entrepreneur takes the initiative in combining the resources of land,
capital, and labor in the production of a good or service. Both a sparkplug and a
catalyst, the entrepreneur is at once the driving force behind production and the agent
who combines the other resources in what is hoped will be a profitab le venture.
2. The entrepreneur undertakes the chore of making basic business-policy
decisions, that is, those nonroutine decisions which set the course of a business
enterprise.
3. The entrepreneur is an innovator—the person who attempts to introduce on a
commercial basis new products, new productive techniques, or even new forms of
business organization.
4. The entrepreneur is a risk bearer. This is apparent from a close examination
of the other three entrepreneurial functions. The entrepreneur in a capitalistic system
has no guarantee of profit. The reward for his or her time, efforts, and abilities may
be attractive profits or losses and eventual bankruptcy. In short, the entrepreneur risks
not only time, effort, and business reputation, but his or her invested funds and those
of associates or stockholders.
Key concepts
land – natural resources (“free gifts of nature”) which
can be used to produce goods and services

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