Capital as Process and the History of Capitalism
本文重新定义资本为前瞻性的货币估值过程，而非物质生产要素，并以此概念分析现代经济生活的核心动力，对研究资本主义史的学者有参考价值。
In the wake of the Great Recession, a new cycle of scholarship opened on the history of American capitalism. This occurred, however, without much specification of the subject at hand. In this essay, I offer a conceptualization of capitalism, by focusing on its root—capital. Much historical writing has treated capital as a physical factor of production. Against such a “materialist” capital concept, I define capital as a pecuniary process of forward-looking valuation, associated with investment. Engaging recent work across literatures, I try to show how this conceptualization of capital and capitalism helps illuminate many core dynamics of modern economic life.