Capitalist Reproduction Simulator

What’s Going On?

This tool shows how capitalists make profit by hiring workers like you.

• Your labour creates more value than you're paid — that extra is surplus value (their profit).
• The boss can reinvest that profit into machines (called constant capital) or more labour (called variable capital).
• Over time, this changes how much profit they get for every £ they invest.

Use the sliders to adjust how much is reinvested and where it goes.
Click “Add Cycle” to see how things change over time.

Watch what happens to the rate of profit — and see a key part of how capitalism works.

Starting Setup

Constant Capital (c): Money spent on machines and materials. Marx called this dead labour — it doesn’t create new value.

Variable Capital (v): Money spent on wages. Marx called this living labour — it creates all the new value.

Rate of Exploitation (s/v): Shows how much extra value the worker produces compared to what they’re paid.

Variable Capital (v): Constant Capital (c): Rate of Exploitation (s/v) %:

Cycle Controls & Results

Add Cycle