I've seen "natural assets" used. Would that accomplish the goal of highlighting their importance without raising all the thorny problems of using "capital"?
Economists don't even know what "capital" is, without the problems of applying the term to labor, natural resources, and social networks. On the one hand, the word refers to money or finance capital, on the other to industrial capital or capital goods. Great quote (Joan Robinson, of course): "Capital" is not what capital is called, it is what its name is called. I have my students mediate on that like a Buddhist koan. By the way, natural resources must be extracted and refined, and so are "produced" just as tools and machines are. So some of this is due to continued confusion. mat f. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
