Capital is not money, and confusing capital with finance is the reason the world's falling apart - Richard Murphy

5th January 2026

In this video, I explain two concepts that quietly shape everything around us and help us answer this question. They are capital, and capital maintenance.

Importantly, capital is not just money. It is the accumulated stock of financial, physical, environmental, human, and societal resources that make future well-being possible. When we fail to maintain those resources, societies decay.

In that case, I argue that because modern economics focuses obsessively on financial capital while neglecting the others, including their capital maintenance, we get collapsing services, environmental breakdown, and political anger.

Care, then, is not a sentiment. Care is capital maintenance in action.

00:00 Why capital really matters
01:20 Capital, time, and why societies decay
02:50 The five forms of capital explained
04:40 Why financial capital dominates—and why that's dangerous
06:15 Physical capital and the cost of neglect
07:45 Environmental capital and the foundation of life
09:10 Human capital, burnout, and care
10:40 Societal capital, trust, and democracy
12:10 Capital maintenance versus short-term returns
14:00 Care as the core economic principle

TRANSCRIPT
A transcript for this video is available at: https://www.taxresearch.org.uk