Four Resources

• Labor: This is the mental and physical efforts of humans (excluding entrepreneurial organization) that is used for the production of goods and services.


• Capital: This is the manufactured, artificial, or synthetic goods used in the production of other goods, including machinery, equipment, tools, buildings, and vehicles.


• Land: This is the naturally occurring materials of the planet that are used for the production of goods and services, including the land itself; the minerals and nutrients in the ground; the water, wildlife, and vegetation on the surface; and the air above.


• Entrepreneurship: This is the special sort of human effort that takes on the risk of bringing labor, capital, and land together to produce goods. Entrepreneurship is the factor that organizes the other three.

Limited Today, More Tomorrow

• Economic growth is the process expanding the production capabilities of the economy by increasing the quantity or quality of resources. Economic growth is achieved through the fundamental process of investment.


• Investment is usually thought of as the acquisition of capital goods, or even more commonly as purchasing shares of corporate stock. However, in the context of economic growth, investment applies to other resources, as well. In other words, exploring for land or the material resources of land is investment. Improving the quality of labor through human capital is also an investment.

Scarcity