What is a example of physical capital would be?

Answer 1

suppose that your family of 6 people washes dishes by hand every day after every meal-breakfast, lunch, and dinner-for a total of 21meals per week. It takes 30 mins per meal for two family members working together to scrape, stack, wash, rinse, dry, and put away the dishes. That's 21 hours per week that could have been spent on other more productive activities.

Now, suppose that your family decides to buy a dishwasher that costs $400. Using the dishwasher, it will take 15 mins fr a single family member to clean up after each meal. At this rate. it will take the entire family only 5 1/4 hrs per week to handle this chore. The benefits that your family reaps from the free time will cover the cost of the new dishwasher, which provides the typical benefits of physical capital:

1. Extra time Your family no longer has to spend 21 hrs per week doing the dishes. Instead, the family gains 15 3/4 hrs each week to use for other activities.

2. More knowledge By learning how to wash the dishes by machine, family members learn more about using household appliances in general. They can apply that knowledge to the use of other labor-saving devices, such as washing machines, dryers, and microwaves.

3. More productivity Because family members now have extra time and extra knowledge, they can use their resources and labor to do additional chores or other activities that are beneficial to the family.