The excess of what workers can produce over what they need to consume. As pointed out by Karl Marx (1818–1883), surplus value is essential if economies are to be able to afford either investment or ‘unproductive’ workers, producing goods or services which are not part of essential consumption. Political economists, including Marx, were concerned with the division of surplus value between various members of society. Marx believed that it would be appropriated by capitalists. In modern economies surplus value is divided between many sections of society, including consumption by workers of considerably more than their minimum needs.