National capital refers to the sum of productive assets, both public and private, that are owned by individuals and entities sharing the same nationality. This term is widely used in macroeconomic circles, and when talking about national capital, it refers to the collection of net assets accumulated by all economic agents within a nation.
This type of capital can be defined as the assets that are used for production within a particular national economy, and must be owned by individuals and entities of that origin and nationality. In the Anglo-Saxon context, this concept is often referred to as the capital stock of a nation.
Origins
Conceptually, national capital is the collection of assets of both private and public origin. This means that the capital referred to as national is the sum of capital owned by the state and the capital owned by families and companies of a certain nationality.
As mentioned at the beginning, this magnitude will represent the available capital capacity, in the form of durable goods whose purpose is the production and creation of goods and services. In this sense, it encompasses the assets owned and developed within the geographical territory of the country, as well as outside of it.
An example of this can be the consideration of the assets of a Spanish company that develops part of its productive activity outside of its borders. Its corresponding productive assets would be considered national, just as the assets of another company that produces products within the national territory.
National capital versus national wealth
A concept that is commonly associated with national capital is that of national wealth. However, it is important to delimit the differential aspects between these two terms. Initially, national capital is intended to generate value for its country.
National wealth primarily assumes the sum of total capital available in a country as production factors, as well as durable goods and assets with a productive meaning within the corresponding economy.
There are also other tangible and intangible elements that play a special role in establishing these measurements by economic and statistical institutions. This is the case with areas such as cultural and intellectual property or the environmental and climatic effect.
In other words, from a theoretical point of view, it can be assumed that national capital is an integral magnitude, but not the total of the so-called national wealth.
