If tools are built faster than they are used, a stock of tools accumulates. It slowly accumulates over many years, and a war can then destroy it in a short time. Since tools make acting easier, a society with a considerable stock of tools can act efficiently and thus obtain its objectives more easily. If its objectives concern the immediate well being of its members, it may build up its stock of tools to produce consumer goods. However, this consumer focus limits the society's accumulation of military tools and makes it more vulnerable to invasions by other societies.
Tools used in agriculture have an interesting effect.
Those numbers are exact proportions. The continued well being of a society depends on a good method for handing these tools on to the future generations of the society. Go back to table of terms . The amount of barter goods that an IS is willing to give to another to obtain a good is called the value of the good. Go back to table of terms .