En economía, la definición de capital no es específica. En sentido estricto, el capital es una abstracción contable: son los bienes y derechos (elementos patrimoniales del activo) menos las deudas y obligaciones (pasivo), de todo lo cual es titular el capitalista. Así se dice que se capitaliza una empresa o se amplía capital cuando aumenta su activo o disminuye su pasivo o se incorporan nuevas aportaciones de socios o se reduce el endeudamiento con terceros. Cuando el pasivo es superior al activo se dice que la unidad económica está en situación de capital negativo (negative equity, en inglés). No obstante, bajo el enfoque vulgar, se entiende por capital un mero componente material de la producción, básicamente constituido por maquinaria, utillaje o instalaciones, que, en combinación con otros factores, como el trabajo, materias primas y los bienes intermedios, permite crear bienes de consumo. El capital debe distinguirse analíticamente de la empresa y de la gerencia, aunque en muchos casos los papeles sociales de capitalista o empresario y gerente se puedan dar simultáneamente en una misma persona, como suele suceder en las más pequeñas unidades productivas. Por lo anterior, el interés que obtiene el prestamista debe diferenciarse de la ganancia que se obtiene por una exitosa actividad empresaria en el mercado, así como del salario que se recibe por una actividad gerencial.

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In economics, capital goods, real capital, or capital assets are already-produced durable goods or any non-financial asset that is used in production of goods or services. Adam Smith defines capital as "That part of a man's stock which he expects to afford him revenue". Capital is derived from the Latin word "caput" meaning head, as in "head of cattle". The term "stock" is derived from the Old English word for stump or tree trunk. It has been used to refer to all the moveable property of a farm since at least 1510. In Middle Ages France contracted leases and loans bearing interest specified payment in heads of cattle. How a capital good is maintained or returned to its pre-production state varies with the type of capital involved. In most cases capital is replaced after a depreciation period as newer forms of capital make continued use of current capital non profitable. It is also possible that advances make an obsolete form of capital practical again. Capital is distinct from land (or non-renewable resources) in that capital can be increased by human labor. At any given moment in time, total physical capital may be referred to as the capital stock (which is not to be confused with the capital stock of a business entity). In a fundamental sense, capital consists of any produced thing that can enhance a person's power to perform economically useful work—a stone or an arrow is capital for a caveman who can use it as a hunting instrument, and roads are capital for inhabitants of a city. Capital is an input in the production function. Homes and personal autos are not usually defined as capital but as durable goods because they are not used in a production of saleable goods and services. In Marxist political economy, capital is money used to buy something only in order to sell it again to realize a financial profit. For Marx capital only exists within the process of economic exchange—it is wealth that grows out of the process of circulation itself, and for Marx it formed the basis of the economic system of capitalism. In more contemporary schools of economics, this form of capital is generally referred to as "financial capital" and is distinguished from "capital goods".

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