Law of accumulation

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Accumulation can refer to a cumulative or compound increase in a variable, or to capital accumulation.

Brian Tracy

The law of accumulation is an adage which according to author Brian Tracy, says:

"... that everything great and worthwhile in human life is an accumulation of hundreds and sometimes thousands of tiny efforts and sacrifices that nobody ever sees or appreciates. It says that everything accumulates over time. That you have to put in many, many, many tiny efforts that nobody sees or appreciates before you achieve anything worthwhile. It's like a snowball. A snowball starts very small, but it grows as it adds millions and millions of tiny snowflakes and continues to grow as it gathers momentum."

The popular way of expressing this concept is as follows: :"Everything worthwhile happens one step at a time".

Marxian economics

In Karl Marx's critique of political economy, the law of accumulation refers to the way in which the accumulation of capital necessarily develops in the capitalist mode of production.

The growth of capital proceeds via an increase in the organic composition of capital and goes together with the proletarianization of the population. More and more of the labor force consists of people dependent on a wage or salary for a living.

Marxian economists usually distinguish between the absolute and relative immiseration of the working class. In absolute immiseration, the living standards of the working class decline absolutely. In relative immiseration, the wealth of the capitalists grows faster than the incomes of the working class.

In Henryk Grossman's theory, capital accumulation leads to a gradual decline of the rate of profit, culminating in a collapse of the capitalist system.

Law of accumulation

Brian Tracy

Marxian economics

See also