Chapter 13 Introduction

In a primitive society with no division of labor and less exchange, people are self-sufficient in all the items they need in life, and everyone tries to satisfy their immediate needs through labor.When people are hungry, they go hunting in the forest; if they have nothing to wear, they skin animals to wear; After the division of labor is fully established, people's immediate needs cannot be fully satisfied by their own labor products.Among them, a large part of the demand comes from the labor products of others.This product can only be purchased with his own product or the price of this product.However, the product of its own labor must not only be finished before it is purchased, but must also be able to be sold.Therefore, before he can do these two things, he must also have a variety of goods sufficient for his livelihood, as well as the materials and tools needed for production.Take a weaver, for example. Before the fabric is made and sold, he needs enough savings for his livelihood, as well as materials and tools for his work, otherwise he cannot weave something.It is evident that the saving of such savings, materials, and implements, whether provided by himself or by someone else, needs to be begun and completed a long time before he begins the profession.

From the nature of things, the accumulation of resources must be completed before the division of labor.The more sufficient the funds in advance, the more fine and proportional the division of labor can be carried out.When the number of workers is the same, the finer the division of labor, the greater the proportion of materials that workers can process; the operation of each worker will become simpler and simpler.In this way, the workers have more time to invent various new machinery, which makes the operation easier and faster.Therefore, when the division of labor advances, if the number of workers remains the same, the amount of food stocked in advance for these workers can be the same as before the progress of the division of labor; and the stock of materials and tools required for the work of the workers will be reduced by the division of labor. Much more was needed before progress.Moreover, the number of workers required by a certain industry tends to gradually increase with the refinement of the industrial division of labor.To be precise, it is the increase in the number of workers that has led to the refinement of the industrial division of labor.

If the productivity of labor is to be greatly improved, it is necessary to reserve funds in advance.The productiveness of labor will naturally be improved as soon as the stock in advance increases.Any investor hopes that his investment method will enable laborers to produce as many products as possible.Therefore, when he assigns jobs to workers, he must try his best to adapt the workers to the work; when he purchases machinery, he must also consider the conditions of invention and creation at that time and his own purchasing power, so as to make the machinery and equipment as good as possible and as good as possible. use.His ability in these two respects is often related to his resources and the number of workers he can employ.The increase of the wealth of any country, therefore, increases the quantity of industry, and enables the same industry to produce much more than before.

In this article, the questions I want to explain are: the nature of assets, what impact does the accumulation of assets have on various capitals, and what are the effects of different capital uses.This article includes five chapters.In the first chapter I shall show into what parts the wealth of an individual or of society is divided, in the case of divisions.The second chapter discusses the nature and function of money as a special part of the total wealth of society.In the third and fourth chapters, I will discuss respectively the situations in which assets are used as capital by the owner himself and when they are lent to others.The fifth chapter deals with the different effects of different uses of capital upon the quantity of national industry, and of the annual produce of land and labour.