  In this paper a novel approach for a measurement of stresses in a capital,
which induce the capital flows between economic systems, is proposed. The
proposals appeal to an apparatus offered by the statistical theory of shape. We
propose a stress functional basing on a concept of mean shape determined by
representative particles of a capital carrier. We also propose methods of
describing changes in an amount and a structure of stresses in a capital
appealing, among others, to a Bookstein's pair of thin plain spline
deformation, and a measure of a shape variability. We apply our approach to an
indirect verification of the hypothesis according to which a capital flow
between economic systems is related to an activity of an inner force related to
stresses in a capital. We indicate, that the stresses create a phenomenon
analogous to the heat, which may be interpreted in terms of a positive economic
external effect, which attracts a capital from environment of a system to the
system. For empirical studies we propose robust approach to estimate the stress
functional basing on the data depth concept. In the empirical research we use
data on five branch stock indexes from Warsaw Stock Exchange. The studied
period involves the financial crisis of 2007.
