Understanding the role capital goods play in an economy is important, but understanding the process of producing capital goods is more important. Using capital goods allows individuals to become more productive over time. Capital goods are scarce, they don’t magically appear. Present consumption has to be foregone to save the resources and time needed to produce capital goods. The foundation of the advance in the worlds material standard of living is due to the capital structure that has evolved over time. The two articles below explain Capital Theory using analogies that are simple to understand. The first by Mark Tovey is from this week, and the second is by Robert P. Murphy and is from Oct. 2008, which was in the middle of the economic crisis.
Austrian Capital Theory And The Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, by Mark Tovey, at mises.org. Here are a few highlights from this article.
“The adoption of ever-more roundabout and convoluted production processes is, paradoxically, the hallmark of economic development. This is not, of course, because time-consuming methods are inherently more productive. If that were the case, we could increase output by simply working more slowly!…..roundabout methods are immensely more productive than their labor-intensive counterparts, hence it is why the more complex methods have come to replace the labor-intensive ones in the developed human economies of the world.”
“In the process of economic growth, saving is crucial. No matter how ingenious the individuals comprising a society, if the means to forgo present consumption are unavailable, capital goods simply cannot be created. Crude, labor-intensive methods of production will then necessarily be employed,”
The Importance Of Capital Theory, by Robert P. Murphy, at mises.org. Here are a few highlights from this article.
“The basic Austrian story is that during the artificial boom, workers’ labor and other resources get channeled into investment projects that aren’t compatible with the overall level of real savings. Sooner or later, reality rears its ugly head, and the unsustainable projects have to be abandoned before completion. Entrepreneurs realize they were horribly mistaken during the boom, everybody feels poorer and slashes consumption, and many workers get thrown out of jobs until the production structure can be reconfigured in light of the revelation.”
“As our simple story illustrates, in modern economies workers use capital goods to augment their labor as they transform nature’s gifts into consumption goods. Because of the time structure of production, it is possible to temporarily boost everyone’s consumption (with Government or Fed stimulus), but only at the expense of maintaining the capital goods, which are thus “consumed.” At some point, engineering reality sets in, and no “stimulus” policies can prevent a sharp drop in consumption.”
Related Article – Capital Consumption, aka, Eating Our Seed Corn, at austrianaddict.com.
AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS ADDICT 