Capital Accumulation

CAPITAL ACCUMULATION

   Politically speaking, the issue of capital accumulation has gained political momentum especially in post-colonial states. This is, because politics is nothing more than “concentrate economy”. It becomes vital for us to introduce this economic concept which will help us to understand other concepts. Capital accumulation is the recapitalization or reinvestment of profit made in the business in tangible asset to maximize more profit. Capital accumulation is often equated with excess profit and exploitation of workers by those who own and control the means of production for profit gratification. Profit maximization is an essential force that is driving the capitalist system of economy. Therefore capital accumulation is a subset of capitalism.

    According to the renowned scholar of political economy, Claude Ake (1981) in his book entitled Political Economy of Africa, he contends thus:
That capital accumulation is a law that governs capitalist society to the extent that we may legitimately talk of a capitalist nationality that is a tendency to behave in a manner compatible with the logic of this law.    

He further, noted that capital tends to flow into those investments which yield more surplus value and out of those which yield less. Also another learned scholar, Obasi Igwe argued that capital accumulation is a factor of production which is measured by difference between capital consumption and capital production. On the other surplus value becomes equal to what is produced by the worker and employed by capitalist and what capitalist pays a worker.