A-Z Popular Blog Capital Search »
Capital
 Advertisements

34 Examples of Physical Capital

 ,
Physical capital is anything with a physical presence that is used to create goods and services. This is an economics term as opposed to an accounting concept. Physical capital is one of the three factors of production alongside natural resources and labor. The following are common examples of physical capital.
Agricultural Equipment
Aircraft
Appliances
Buildings
Computers
Containers
Energy Infrastructure
Equipment
Facilities
Factories
Fixtures
Furniture
Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning
Inventory
Land Improvements
Machines
Materials
Media Equipment
Mobile Devices
Musical Instruments
Purchased Software
Robots
Safety Gear
Satellites
Ships
Signs
Supplies
Technology Infrastructure
Theme Park Attractions
Tools
Transportation Infrastructure
Unfinished Goods (work-in-progress)
Uniforms
Vehicles
What is capital to one business may not be capital to another. For example, if you are professional musician your instruments are capital but most musical instruments are personal assets.
Physical capital doesn't include land as this is viewed as a natural resource in the three factors of production model. Although land is physical it has special properties. For example, it generally doesn't go down in value as with other capital. It also can't be manufactured such that it has a more or less fixed supply.
The three factors of production (land, labor and physical capital) is an old economic theory that is essentially incorrect whereby it doesn't account for things like software, data, intellectual property or relationships that are also factors of production.
At the level of a nation, physical capital includes government capital used to produce public services. For example, hospital equipment or a desk in a school.

Physical Capital vs Financial Capital

Financial capital is cash and other assets that can be converted to cash such as stocks. This is considered a tangible asset but isn't considered physical capital as this term is related to the factors of production -- the land, labor and capital that go into producing goods.

Physical Capital vs Intangible Capital

Physical capital has a specific physical presence. Intangible capital includes valuable things like talent, relationships, brands, know-how, trade-secrets and data that may have significant value to a business but aren't physical. Intangible capital includes elements such as human capital, relational capital, intellectual property and brand value.

Physical Capital

This is the complete list of articles we have written about physical capital.
Capital
Capital Equipment
Fixtures
Human Capital
Inventory
Land Improvements
Machines
Materials
Physical Capital
Robots
Tools
If you enjoyed this page, please consider bookmarking Simplicable.
 

Capital

A list of common types of capital.

Financial Sector

The definition of the financial sector with examples.

Property

An overview of property with examples.

Human Capital Examples

An overview of human capital with examples.

Financial Capital

An a-z list of financial capital.

Personal Property

An a-z list of personal property.

Wealth Examples

An overview of wealth with examples.

Capitalism Examples

An overview of capitalism with examples.

Asset

An overview of the common types of assets.

Tangible

The definition of tangible with examples.

Fixtures

The definition of fixtures with examples.

Asset Tracking

The definition of asset tracking with examples.

Fixed Asset

The definition of fixed asset with lists of examples.

Examples of Current Assets

A list of the common types of current asset.

Capital Examples

The basic types of capital with examples of each.

Origin Of Money

The origins of money explained.

Personal Assets

An a-z list of personal assets.
The most popular articles on Simplicable in the past day.

New Articles

Recent posts or updates on Simplicable.
Site Map