My working definition is: Capital is a pool of money utilized to bring together raw materials, workers, energy, equipment, and so forth to produce the goods or services people want and/or need. There is more than one way to organize capital; it doesn't have to be the present stockmarket/free market model with greed as its driving force; it could be state capital--organized primarily by government for the public good, perhaps through Crown corporations; or co-operative capital, organized through co-operatives for both private and the public good, the most democratic form. If greed can be controlled, all three forms can co-exist and work together.
Ethical Capital
Regardless of how capital is organized, or owned, there are values to be applied all along the process of producing the good or service--for example, is energy being utilized to assist workers rather than replace them? Are the raw materials being extracted or refined in environmentally-friendly ways? Are the goods produced recyclable? Is the equipment safe? Are the workers well-trained? And on and on.
A basic value should be that it is not acceptable, or ethical, for investors to invest only to make money. Or for companies to put maximizing profits and increasing shareholder value ahead of every other consideration, regardless of the damage they may be doing to people or places.
To be ethical, an investment must lead to some useful or beautiful good or service, produced by the most environmentally-symbiotic processes possible. Ideally, the workers would own the company they work for, but where this does not apply, an ethical investment requires companies to pay and treat their workers well, to co-operate with their unions, and to ensure their workers' safety and well-being on the job.
