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# Dead Stock

## Definition

Capital that is not currently productive, including money kept idle for occasional demands and gold and silver money that circulates but produces nothing. This represents capital that could potentially be made productive.

## Source Chapter

Book II, Chapter 2

## Context

Smith uses the concept of dead stock to explain how banking can increase productivity by converting idle capital into active capital. He distinguishes between dead stock in individual hands and in the economy as a whole.

## Economic Domain

Accumulation

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