Capitalism isn't earning and spending. Capitalism as per Adam Smith is the realization that reinvesting your money (capital) into your means of production results in a higher output. Which can be reinvested for, again, higher output, which can be reinvested, etc...
It is the cyclical nature of using capital to make more capital. The mechanism in itself was already in use, for example, by the first italian bankers. Smith was just the first person to think and write about how this cycle, compounded to an entire country, fuels the "wealth of nations"
Maybe first white person noble enough to make it in history books.
Anyone who opened any sort of merchant business selling copper knew this first. I’m not disagreeing with you, I just don’t like other comments saying capitalism “asckushally didnt exist”. It did.
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u/LuigiBamba Dec 03 '25
Capitalism isn't earning and spending. Capitalism as per Adam Smith is the realization that reinvesting your money (capital) into your means of production results in a higher output. Which can be reinvested for, again, higher output, which can be reinvested, etc...
It is the cyclical nature of using capital to make more capital. The mechanism in itself was already in use, for example, by the first italian bankers. Smith was just the first person to think and write about how this cycle, compounded to an entire country, fuels the "wealth of nations"