# stock

**Definition**  
Stock refers to the accumulated capital, materials, and resources that an entrepreneur or employer invests in order to employ labour and produce commodities. It includes both the physical inputs (raw materials, tools) and the financial capital required to sustain production until the product is sold.

**Source Chapter**  
*The Wealth of Nations*, Book 1, Chapter 6.

**Context**  
Smith discusses stock when describing how “stock has accumulated in the hands of particular persons” and how it is employed to “set to work industrious people.” He links stock to the ability to earn profit and to the wages paid to labourers.

**Economic Domain**  
Accumulation

**Smith’s Original Wording**  
> “As soon as stock has accumulated in the hands of particular persons, some of them will naturally employ it in setting to work industrious people…”

**Modern Interpretation**  
In modern terms, stock is synonymous with capital stock—the total value of physical and financial assets used in production. It is a key input in the production function and a determinant of a firm’s capacity to generate profit.