HET 1

 What do you expect from this course ?

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The content of the course
1. Introduction
2. Methodology in economics
3. Pre-classical schools
4. Classical school
5. German Historical School
6. Socialist school
7. Marginalist school

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History of Economic Thought /Econ 3141

1. Introduction
 Course objectives
 The main objective of this course is to provide students

with a general picture of the development of

economics from ancient thinking until the emergence of
MARGINALIST thinking.

 The course demonstrates the contributions of

mainstream thinkers or the orthodoxy and deviants from
the orthodoxy of this era in shaping contemporary
economic thought.

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 The subject matter of Economics and its evolution
 Economics is a social science that examines
 the problems of relative scarcity societies face in material requisites of life;
 It deals with the allocation of scarce resources which have alternative
uses.
 Scarcity arises because of the desire to consume more goods and services
than are available or
 scarcity arises because of unlimited wants and limited resources.
 Since scarcity always prevails as human wants are unlimited the option is
mitigation rather than avoidance of scarcity
 To mitigate the problem of scarcity, three directions were pursued
 restrict wants ( by inducing moral restraint on demand ! Or by forcibly imposing austerity !)

or
 increasing the supply of resources ( through discovery of new sources or through

increasing productivity and output)

Or
 Installing a social mechanism for allocating limited resources among
unlimited alternative wants.

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 Introduction cont’d
 Which ever way scarcity is addressed with the first two directions, the
third (social mechanism) was necessary as scarcity can not be
removed.

 The third mechanism is still necessary to determine

 Who gets and who does not get resources.

 Which want gets satisfied and which does not

 Historically we identify four social mechanisms : Brute force,

Tradition, Authority, Market
( you are encouraged to identify others outside these mechanisms )

 Regardless of which mechanism is used to allocate resources, the

harsh reality of scarcity necessitates that some wants among the
alternatives remain unmet.

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 The central focus of modern economic thought
and markets
 Modern economic theory focuses largely on market processes of
allocating resources, which have replaced the others as primary
resource allocating mechanism.

 Modern economic theory examines the problems of allocation ,

distribution, growth and stability (analyzes the various ways in which
contemporary societies cope with the problems that flow from relative
scarcity)

 The theories on the problems associated with relative scarcity are

commonly divided into micro and macro economics.

 Micro economics considers questions of allocation and distribution

( ideas about what to produce and how to produce, how real income and goods are
divided among the members of society).

 Macroeconomics considers questions of stability( issues of business

cycles, inflation and unemployment) and growth.
 This economics is known as mainstream or orthodox economic 6
 .
 Mainstream modern economics ( orthodox economic
thinking), focuses on the use of markets to cope with the
problems associated with relative scarcity;
 In contrast, some economists are interested in broader
philosophical issues, other than focuses on markets.
 In dealing with scarcity these economists resort to analyzing
other forces than the market
 In so doing they straddle disciplines within social sciences
such as between economics and political science, between
economics and sociology etc.

 This economics is sometimes called heterodox economic

thinking.
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 Introduction cont’d
 Differences between Orthodox and Heterodox economists
mainly lie in the questions they try to answer.
 Orthodox thinking
 Deals with scarcity by studying economic behavior in

the context of given specific social, political and

economic institutions, such as free and competitive
market at its best, democratic politics , sovereign and
rational individual consumers, prevalence of respect
for the rule of law and private property etc
 focuses on the problems of market allocation,
distribution, stability and growth in the context of the
assumed specific institutions.
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 Introduction cont’d
 Heterodox thinking , in stead of focusing on market
allocations and taking markets as given, it focuses on
 forces leading to the development of the institutions in

society that affect allocation.

( Note that these institutions are assumed as given in the orthodox
economics, meaning that it is not the interest of Orthodox economics to
study how they come and go)

 the forces that produce changes in society and the

economy, given the functioning of markets and other
forces.
 The differences are often differences of focus i.e. what
one tries to explain is taken as given by the other.
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 History of economic thought VS Economic history
 History of economic thought charts the development of economic
thinking about the various economic problems of coping with scarcity
through ages.
 It reviews the logical structure of the various theories and their evolution
in historical perspective.

 Economic history tells us about the various economic activities , in

contrast to economic thinking.

 Economic history makes an account of not only of economic activities

that prevailed to create wealth in the past, but also about the various
resource allocation mechanisms employed by society to cope with the
problem of scarcity across ages.

 History of economic thought consults economic history to understand

factors that led to the emergence of the thought and to interpret
economic thinking in the past and present.
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 The rationale for studying HET
 Providing perspective and understanding of our past as
contributed by various schools with no monopoly of the
truth by a single source

 Guarding oneself from irresponsible generalizations

 Enhancing ones understanding of contemporary

economic thought

 Anticipate changes in the future

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 Questions to be asked in studying HET
 What was the historical background of the school?

 How does it relate to the thoughts in the past?

 What were the basic tenets of the school?

 Whom did the school benefit

 How was the school valid ,useful, or correct in its time?

 Which tenet of the school became long lasting contribution?

 What general conclusion can we make towards the origins and

evolutions of economic theories?

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 These questions imply the possibility of formulation of a
.theory of economic theory
 Can we formulate a theory to explain the development of economic theory?

 Yes , historically there were theoretical approaches formulated

with different perspectives to explain the development of
economic theories
 The relativist approach
 historical, economic, sociological and political forces bring

people to examine certain economic questions and these

forces shape the content of the theory.
The absolutist approach
 internal forces such as the increasing professionalism in

economics account for the development of economic theory

as intellectual reactions to unsolved problems and
paradoxes.
 Which one is right? Both convey part of the truth.

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2 Introduction to the Methodology of economics
 The history of economic thought is not only about the
evolution of economic theories. It is about the history of the
methodology of economics as well.

 The methodology or Philosophy of science describes: the aim

and method of science. The aim and method of science has
historically been changing

 The methodology of economics defines

 what economists aim to know, and
 extends to defining how they know that they know it!

 What economists aim to know has remained as an important point

of distinction in methodological differences among economists.

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 What economists know is categorized into three general
areas :
 how the economy works in addressing scarcity
( positive economics )
The aim of economics is to know how the economy works

 how the economy should work

( normative economics )
The aim of economics is to know how the economy should work

 how to mix the two above

( the art of economics)
Knowing how the economy works and given the normative goals, the
aim of economics is to know how best to achieve these goals

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 Methodology in economics Cont’d

 Positive economics
 The methodology of positive economics is formal and abstract.

 It tries to separate economic forces from political and social forces

 It poses economics as a science rather than art

 Normative economics
 relies on ethical judgments on what is best for society

 It integrates economics with ethics

 The art of economics

 The methodology of the art of economics concerns policy, mixing

positive and normative economics.

 It addresses interrelationships among politics, social and economic

forces.

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 To answer the question “ how economists know that
they know” , economics has to answer more
fundamental questions:

 “ whether there is an ultimate truth that scientists

are in the process of revealing?”

 If there is ultimate truth how do we find it?

 With regard to these questions there are two general

positions, among which choice has to be made:
 Subjectivism and Realism

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 Methodology of science cont’d
 Subjectivism
 Reality is not independent of our individual or social thinking( reality

is individually or socially constructed) and it is not possible to assert

the underlying ultimate truth
 Realism
 Objective reality exists and Ultimate truth describes that reality(the

absolutist view )
 Objective reality may exist but truths describing it are relative to

circumstances ( the relativist view)

 In realism believing that truth exists leaves one with the problem of
deciding when and how one has discovered it.
 The recognition of the discovery( the belief that one has discovered the
truth) has been varying in the period of prescience and in the period of
science.
 Science is one means of discovering the truth.
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 The progress in methodology
 Prescience:
 In prescience deductive method was followed in gaining knowledge.
 deductive method was limited to general propositions that led to
specific logical implications.
 There was no felt need for empirical verifications of the implications.

 Science
 Ancient Science
 The ancient model of science was Aristotelian, which uses inductive
process to arrive at the definition of the essence of things and use
deduction to demonstrate why things must be what they are as
defined.

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 Modern science (17 century onwards)
 The philosophical foundation of science lies in positivism, which
claims that
 The only authentic knowledge is that based on actual sense
experience.
 Such knowledge can only come from affirmation of theories
through strict scientific method.
 Science can rise above superstition by specializing in the
description and analysis of observable phenomena leading to
the discovery of natural laws
 Scientific method involves trained empirical observation integrated
with reason.
 the importance of empirical verification is acknowledged and
reason is integrated with empirical observation.
 Science used both the inductive method and deductive reasoning.

 Modern science has different models

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 Models of modern science
 Inductivism
 The earliest modern model of positive science is inductivism

 aims at attaining definite and certain knowledge that can only be

obtained through observations, avoiding unobservable, and use
inductive methods to generalize so that the obtained knowledge
has breadth that encompasses wider areas and objects ( laws )

 Inductive method begins from specific observations, rooted in

experience, and goes to general conclusions.

 In the inductive view of science scientific investigation begins

with un prejudiced observation of facts and proceed via
inductive reasoning to the formulation of laws and theories
ultimately to be checked for their truth content by comparing
their empirical consequences with all the observed facts.
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 Hypothesisism

Aims at obtaining knowledge that is not given in observables or

It aims at knowing the reality behind what we observe or
 It aims at explaining what we observe in terms of un-
observables.
 As such it aims at generating hypothesis which are
descriptions of unobservable entities and establish them

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 Logical positivism
 provided the scientific method with stricter

philosophical foundations , entirely rejecting

metaphysics
 It grew in the tradition of inductivists.
 Logical positivism combines empiricism, the idea
that observational evidence is indispensable for
knowledge of the world, with a version of
rationalism incorporating mathematical and logico-
linguistic constructs and deductions.
 Scientists are supposed to develop a deductive
structure ( a logical theory) that leads to empirically
testable propositions.
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  A deductive theory is true , however, only after it has been
empirically tested and verified.
 It describes economics as a positive science whose goal is to
devise theories that can be empirically validated.
 It purges normative discussions from economics as unscientific.
 Empirical tests are verifications

Examples of Positivism and apriorism in economics- Robbins

 Basic propositions of economics were deductions from a series of postulates,
which are universally accepted facts of experience .
 The fundamental assumptions are combined with subsidiary hypothesis that
enable to apply the theory to actual situations.
 Logical empiricism – Hutchison
 The need for testability - including tests of basic assumptions
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 Popper's Falsification and science
 A departure from logical positivism
 emerged from a concern about the logical validity of
“Verification” of theories
 Uses the hypothetico-deductive approach with falsification
 The criterion of the scientific status of a theory
is its nature of falsifiability, or refutability
 There can be only a science of falsification not verification.

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 Models of Positive scientific explanation

 Hypothetico-deductive model
 It is the further development in the tradition of
hypothesisists.

 The Theories are tested by using them to make

predictions about particular events.

 When the predictions are proven false the theories are

not supported and if the predictions are confirmed the
theories get support.
 Examples of the hypothetico deductive model in Classical
Economics– David Ricardo, N.W Senior, J.S.Mill
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 Covering law model
 This model claims that all truly scientific explanations involve at
least one universal law plus a statement of relevant initial
conditions that constitute the premises from which a statement
about some event whose explanation or prediction we are
seeking is deduced with the aid of the rules of deductive logic

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 Kuhn’s scientific paradigms
 Is based on history of science

 Most scientific work is normal science in which researchers try

to solve puzzles posed using the framework of the existing

paradigm.
 This work often leads to the discovery of anomalies the

paradigm fails to account for, but the existence of such

anomalies is not sufficient to overthrow the reigning paradigm
 only an alternative paradigm better able to deal with the

anomalies can do so.

 Ones such a superior paradigm develops a scientific revolution
becomes possible.

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 Imre Lakatos’s Scientific Research Programs
 Integrates falsificationism of Popper with scientific paradigms of
Kuhn.
 Scientists are engaged in the development of competing research

programs, each of which involves analyzing and attempting to

falsify a set of data but also involves unquestionably accepting a
set of hard core logical postulates
 Theories have hard core which adherents do not attempt to
falsify .
 Hard core is surrounded by protective belt of hypothesis which

may be adjusted to defend the hard core.

 Only when sufficient peripheral implications are falsified will the

hard core assumptions be considered.

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 Others
 Methodological anarchy

 “Any thing will do” approach, as long as there is

internal consistency.
 Sociological Approach to Method :

 Social and institutional constraints influence the

acceptability of theories.
 Rhetorical approach to method :

 Emphasis on the persuasiveness of the argument

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 Instrumentalism and Economics (Freidman’s Essay)- Milton Freidman
 All theory is abstraction.
 Good theory abstracts from reality in a useful way
 Proper test of a theory is by its predictions.
 For this realism of assumptions is irrelevant.( F- twist)
 Operationalism of Paul Samuelson
 contradicts Freidman by saying that good theories are based on
reasonable assumptions.

 Theories are strategically simplified descriptions of observable and

refutable empirical regularities

 Theories are equivalent restatements of assumptions, theorized

relations and conclusions where the empirical validity of conclusions
presupposes the empirical validity of assumptions and relations.

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 .
 Austrian Methodology
 The task of the economist is deriving conclusions deductively
from the logic of human action
 Conclusions and theories thus derived need not be tested
because truth had already been logically established.
 Heterogeneity of substance and methods in
economics -Amartya Sen

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 3 Overview of schools of thought
 Classical economics is dated from the publication
of the Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations in 1776.
 The period of Pre classical economics ( the period
before 1776) is divided in to two parts:
 an early pre classical period before 1500AD

and
 A pre classical era between 1500 and 1776

 The first part of the period includes the economic ideas of the
Ancient Greeks, Romans, and the Medieval Economics of the
Scholastics
 The second part includes the Mercantilists and the Physiocrats

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 The general themes of Pre
classical economic thinkers

 Reflected on aspects of their Economic lives and

focused on non- market allocating mechanisms
 Focused on general philosophical questions of
fairness, justice and equity.
 Ancient Greek and Roman Economic ideas was dominated
with Economic ideas in connection to concerns for justice,
fairness, equality and non market methods of resource
allocation
 Medieval ( scholastic ) economic ideas were concerned with
reconciling the philosophy of the ancient classical
philosophers with medieval Christian theology and provide
religious guidelines to be applied to secular activities with a
general orientation to non market methods of resource
allocation
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 Merchantilism and Physiocracy
 Mercantilism is a body of economic doctrine reflecting the
interest of the mercantile capitalist, giving dignity and
importance to the merchant, trade and gold and silver ,
characterized by its promotion of nationalism, a strong
government and justification of a policy of economic and
military expansion, which is a manifestation of the less
importance attached to market forces.
 Physiocracy was a reaction to Mercantilism and feudalism in
France characterized by its emphasis on agriculture and
laissez faire, an advance in economic thinking towards the
recognition of the role of the markets

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 The Classical school
 Classical thinking fully developed:
 the role of markets
 value and distribution theories
 the Importance of all economic resources and
activities
 as fundamental assumption of self interested
economic behavior as basic to human nature
 Statements on various “economic laws”

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 The German Historical school
 Emphasized
 the role of government and the protection of
infant industries from competition
 Evolution of economies and the corresponding
policies
 Inductive and the historical method

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 The Socialist school

 Socialist thinking Opposed and repudiated

 the classical concept of laissez-faire,
 the market mechanism of capitalism as
doomed to periodic crisis or general stagnation
 denied the concept of self interested actors
and
 advocated collective action and collective
property.

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 Marginalist school
 Opposed socialism, trade unionism, and
government intervention
 defended market allocation
 stated that, although the value and
distribution theories of the classical
economists were inaccurate, their policy
views were correct.

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 3.1 Pre classical Economic
thought

 2.1. Greek and Roman Economic Ideas

 Greeks

 Hesiod(800 BC)

 On scarcity- scarcity as emanating not from human

conditions
 Xenophon( 400BC)

 coined the word Oeconomicus- efficient management

at the level of the household

 discussed efficiency at the household, the producer,

the military and the public administrator level.

 Discussed efficiency and division of labor

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 Greeks
 Democritus
 Division of labor
 Private ownership of property – an incentive to greater economic activity.
 Plato
 The ruling class should not possess private property
 The necessity of division of labor based on the best natural ability for
efficiency
 Sponsored one of the two fundamental theories of money. He thought of
money as a symbol devised for the purpose of facilitating exchange, the
value of which is on principle independent of the stuff it is made of.
( Cartal theory)
 The canons of his monetary policy, i.e., his hostility to the use of gold
and silver and his idea of a domestic currency that would be useless
abroad were logical consequences of this principle.

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 Greeks
 Aristotle
 There should be no regulation to limit private
property.
 But also condemned the pursuit of economic gains.
 Scarcity can be addressed by reducing consumption,
by changing human attitudes( the basis for utopians
and socialists hopes of eliminating conflicts that are
inherent in scarcity and self interested behavior )
 The distinction between peoples needs and desires
 The developments that led to exchange of

commodities and the use of money

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 Aristotle on money
 Aristotle sponsored the second theory of money(Metallist
theory)
 Money is a medium of exchange( catallactic theory of
money)
 In order to serve as a medium of exchange in the market
of commodities money must be one of these
commodities.
 Thus the money commodity goes by weight and quality
leading to metallism or the Metallist theory of money as
opposed to Cartal theory of Plato
 He recognized money as Measure of value and implicitly
as a Store of value
 Money as a Standard of differed payments was not
suggested by Aristotle
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 Aristotle on value

 Recognized the distinction between Value in use and value in

exchange & the latter is derived from the former.
 Promoted the idea of Justice in price (Commutative justice) as

equivalence of what a man gives and receives.

 Defined monopoly as a single seller and condemned it as

unjust.
 Aristotle failed in formulating a theory of price.

 Aristotle on Interest
 Condemned interest, as usury, on the ground that money is a

medium of exchange the value of which does not change as it

crosses hands.
 He didn’t ask why interest was being paid anyway.

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 The Romans
 The Roman period was characterized by the absence of
analytic work in spite of expanded economic activities,
markets and administrative concerns
 The probable cause could be the structure of
the roman society which might not allow
analytic works by a class of people who could see such
an engagement as their vocation rather than avocation
 What is recognized from this period is the importance of
Roman law that recognizes private property and
commerce

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 3.2 Scholasticism and
Medieval Economic ideas

 Scholastic writers were educated monks who tried to

provide religious guidelines to be applied to secular
activities
 Scholasticism originally began to reconcile the philosophy
of the ancient classical philosophers with medieval
Christian theology.
 Scholasticism is not a philosophy or theology in itself, but
a tool and method for learning.
 It puts emphasis on dialectical reasoning.
 The primary purpose of scholasticism was to find the
answer to a question or resolve a contradiction.

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 Scholasticism
 Historical context of the school
 Market was not playing a dominant role in everyday life
 Feudal, subsistence agriculture
 Society was bound together by tradition custom and authority ( not by market)
 Land, labor and capital were not market commodities as they are today.
Main themes of the school
 Scholastic writing represented a gradual acceptance of
certain aspects of economic activity as compatible with
religious doctrine,
 This acceptance was achieved by subtle modifications of
that doctrine to fit the economic conditions
 Fusion of religious teaching with writings of Aristotle

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 Development of Value theory under
scholasticism
 Albertus Magnus :planted in western thought the notion that value
in exchange must comply with cost of production (labor and
expenses)
 Thomas Aquinas( Albert’s Pupil) introduced need, human wants, in to
value theory marking the earliest root of an analytical demand theory of
value. The notion roughly meant amount desired in relation to what is
available( demand in relation to scarcity)
 Henry of Friemar introduced aggregation and scarcity notion of value
where value is determined by the common need of something scarce
(roughly sketching market demand for scarce thing as the determinant of
value of the thing)
 Jean Buridan took the scholastic notion of human want to a concept much
closer to the modern concept of effective demand
 All through the middle ages value theory continued to pose the two
competing concepts of labor and demand theory as explanations of value.
 The school initiated the debate, which took more than half a millennium
period to solve, on cost of production theory of value and utility based
theory of value which ended with Alfred Marshall’s Synthesis about the
beginning of the 20th century.

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 Value theory and
the scholastics cont’d
 The concept of the Just price of scholastics taken from
Aristotle has left behind differences in interpretation
 Just price equivalent to labor cost?

 Just price equivalent to utility?

 Just price equivalent to total cost of production?

 Just price equivalent to the prevailing market price?

 The harsh scholastic view on USURY gradually moderated

from fairly strict prohibition to its acceptance, at least to
business purposes.

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 Examples of Scholasticism
St. Thomas Aquinas and later Medieval thought.
 In an attempt to reconcile religious doctrine with the

institution of private property and with economic activity

he argued against those teachings and beliefs condemning
private property, wealth and the pursuit of economic gain.
 In his argument, although Communal property accorded

with natural law as exemplified by Jesus and his disciples,

he maintained that private property is an addition not a
contradiction to natural law..
 But advocated poverty and communal living for those

committed to religious living as ideal.

 Aquinas and others focused on the ethical aspect of prices

( equity and justice)

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 3.3. Mercantilism
 The body of economic doctrine known as mercantilism, appeared
between the Middle Ages and the period of the triumph of Laissez-Faire.
It came with the ascendance of the mercantile capitalist and trade in
western Europe.
 It was characterized by its promotion of nationalism, giving dignity and
importance to the merchant, justification of a policy of economic and
military expansion, belief in gold and silver as the most desirable form of
wealth, emphasis on export and restriction on import in the interest of
the mercantile capitalist.
 The historical background of the mercantilist school
 The self-sufficiency of the feudal community gave way slowly to trade
and higher interdependence,
 Merchants interceded between the small scale producers and consumers,
and merchant capitalists were becoming key figures in the world of
business
 Cities became increasingly important

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 The historical background cont’d

 The use of money expanded.

 New sources of gold discovered, which facilitated the growing
volume of commerce and stimulated theorizing about precious
metals.
 The development in Navigation and great geographical discoveries
expanded the sphere of commerce.
 National states were rising and expanding their sphere of influence
and colonies, which intensified the rivalry between Nations.
 Under these circumstances a body of mercantilist doctrine evolved
 superseding the feudal concepts, dignifying the merchant,

promoting Nationalism and justifying a policy of economic and

military expansion, aiming at the accumulation of bullion of
gold and silver as the most desired form of wealth.

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 Major tenets of Mercantilism
 Gold and silver as the most desirable form of wealth
 Emphasis on export, duty-free importation of raw
materials and protection of internal manufactures
 Opposition of internal tolls, taxes and restrictions on
internal movement of goods
 Nationalism and Beggar-thy- neighbor- policy
 Colonization and monopolization of colonial trade
 Strong Central government
 Emphasis on large, hardworking population

53
 Major Tenets cont’d
 Gold and silver as the most desirable form of wealth
 Mercantilists tended to equate the wealth of a nation with
the amount of gold and silver bullion that it possessed. All of
them valued bullion as the ways to achieve power and
riches.

 Mercantilism is known for its emphasis on exports

and restriction on imports( the fear of goods).
 Duty free importation of raw materials that could not be
produced domestically, protection for manufactured goods
and raw materials that could be produced domestically , and
export restriction on raw materials

54
 Major Tenets of the school
 Opposed to internal tolls and taxes and other restrictions on the internal
movement of goods,
 They recognized that tolls and taxes could

 bottle neck business activities and enterprise

 drive up the prices of the country’s export
 Removal of internal tools and taxes and exports all stood in the

interest of the merchant.

 In mercantilism the interest of the merchant took precedence over

those of domestic consumers.

 Merchants received inflows of gold in return for their exports that

were kept cheap by the above mechanisms, while the restrictions on

imports reduced the availability of goods for consumption at home.

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 Major Tenets of the school

Nationalism
 Mercantilists believed that there was a fixed
quantity of economic resources in the world; one
country could increase its resources only at the
expense of another.
 Therefore one’s own country should promote its
exports and accumulate wealth at the expense of
its neighbors.
 Only a powerful nation could compete successfully
in international trade, dominate trade routes, win
wars against rivals, capture and hold colonies.
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 Major Tenets of the school
 Colonization and monopolization of colonial trade
 keeping colonies eternally dependant upon and
subservient to the colonizer to maintain cheap raw
material sources and importers of manufactured goods.
 colonies were not allowed to import from places other

than the colonizer;

 colonies were curbed or outlawed or not allowed to
manufacture their own
 exports from colonies had to first visit colonizers port
before they move to the final destination.

57
 Major Tenets of the school
 Strong Central Government
 Mercantilists promoted a strong central government as it

was a means to achieve mercantilist goals of

 colonization,
 securing privileges of monopoly in foreign trade,
 restriction of new entry to businesses at home,
 regulation of methods of production and the quality of export
goods to maintain reputation,
 removal of excessive tolls and taxes in internal trade goods,
 Restriction of imports and promotion of export etc.

58
 Major Tenets of
the school
 Sizable industrious Population
 Mercantilism promoted a sizable industrious

population that
 provide an abundance of soldiers and sailors ready to
fight for the glory and wealth of the nation
 and also to keep labor supply high and wages low.
( Idleness , begging, theft were punishable by maim
and death)

59
 Whom did Mercantilists
Benefit
 The doctrine benefited the merchant capitalist, the Kings,
and the government officials
 Some historians of economic thought suggest that
mercantilism can best be understood as an extreme example
of rent seeking behavior
 Here Rent seeking activities simply mean attempts by
private parties to increase their profits by securing
favorable laws and regulations from governments
 The laws took the form of

 grants of monopoly status

 Prohibition of imports

 Entry barriers for new producers

60
 Whom did Mercantilists Benefit
 Examples
 In England and In France importing printed cotton called Calicoes
was prohibited to maintain the interest of wool producers.
 In England the law required the dead to be buried in woolen shrouds
even though religious traditions required linens.

Rules published in France in 1666 to 1730 on textiles alone required
seven huge volumes on quality specifications and manuals on dyeing.
These regulations prevented inferior methods from being used, but
they also seriously impeded experimentation and the development of
new techniques by producers who could have competed with existing
firms.

61
 How Valid , Useful and correct
was the school in its time ?
 The arguments for bullion , although exaggerated, made sense in
that transition period from middle ages to money and credit economy
of modern times.
 Before the development of international finance and multilateral trade
bullion was of major significance in making international payments.
 Mercantilists were also aware that the influx of precious metals made tax
collection easier.
 They knew that prices would rise or at least would not fall if the
quantity of money increased as trade expanded.
 Not only was the volume of output expanding , but also the self sufficient
household was being drawn in to the market economy and therefore more
money was needed to buy and sell same volume of output.
 Some Mercantilist were also aware that increase in the amount of
gold and silver in circulation reduced interest rates and promoted
business.

62
 Which contribution of the school
were lasting contributions?
 Direct contribution
 Emphasis on international trade and laying the basis for the notion of

the balance of payments

 The macro economic concept that actual output could be lower than

Potential output as a result of imports and domestic demand

deficiency might have served as the intellectual root for Keynesian
economics
 Indirect contribution to economics and economic development
 They permanently influenced the attitude toward the merchant

 They promoted nationalism, which was necessary for regulations

needed for maintaining uniform weights, measures, coinage, etc;

When financial risks of trade were high providing monopoly privileges
were necessary to induce more risk.
 It helped European economy to transform by bringing in new products

and creating selling outlets for manufactured goods, by expanding the

internal market .
63
 Thomas Mun
 Thomas Mun( British mercantilist) who Lived between 1571-
1641 was a merchant in Italian and near east trade and later
was elected as a director of the East India company.
 Because he was involved in the controversy over the
company’s policy of exporting gold, he published a tract in its
defense.
 He argued that as long as the total export exceeded total

imports , the drain of species from a country in any one

trade area did not matter.

64
 Thomas Mun
 A chapter in an exposition of the mercantilist doctrine by Mun
that was written around 1630 and published posthumously in
1664, entitled “ the means to enrich the Kingdom, and
increase our treasure” states
 that the means lay neither in production nor in the accumulation of
capital goods,but rather in a surplus of exports.
 Although England was rich, it could be still richer if it used waste land
to grow hemp, flax, lumber, tobacco and other things which now we
fetch from strangers to our great impoverishing.
 Exports should be carried in English ships to gain insurance and freight
charges.
 Argued for multilateral trade than bilateral trade and analyzed
England’s overall balance of trade rather than its separate account with
each foreign country.

65
 Thomas Mun
 His emphasis on importing treasure led to the strange conclusion that trade
at home could not enrich a country.
 “ we may exchange either amongst ourselves or with strangers; if amongst
ourselves the Commonwealth cannot be enriched thereby; for the gain of one
subject is a loss for another. And if we exchange with strangers, then our profits is
the gain of the Common wealth.”
 Mun listed the invisible items that should be included in an overall balance if it
were to show whether ‘ We prosper or decline in this great wealthy business”.
 He included in the balance of payments;
 The freight charges for shipping goods
 Ships lost at sea
 Insurance
 Money paid up in supporting foreign wars
 International payment of bribes and funds for espionage
 Expense of travelers
 Gifts for foreigners and ambassadors
 Interest on money
 Smuggling to evade tariffs
 Contributions to religious orders that secretly sent the money abroad

66
 Mercantilists
 Jean Baptiste Colbert( French mercantilist)
 Gerard Malynes ( Belgian born from English family )
 Charles Duvenant( British)

Bernand Mandeville (British)
 Sir William Petty
 Favored freer trade
 Favored taxation of imported goods
 Favored gentle dealing with imported raw materials
 Opposed laws prohibiting the export of money but also deplored
the money paid to foreigners for shipping, the money paid to
Hollanders for their fishing trade, the money spent on imported
commodities that could be manufactured in England
 Favored large population
67
 3.4 The Physiocratic school

 The term physiocracy means the rule of nature.

 The Physiocrats appeared in France toward the
end of the Mercantilist epoch around 1756 and
ended in 1776
 The influence of the physiocrats lasted well beyond
the two decades during which they led the world in
economic thinking.
 Physiocracy was a reaction to Mercantilism and
feudalism in France.
68
 Physiocracy
The historical background of the school
 The detailed government regulation of production became a fetter to
improvement in manufacturing and impedance to satisfaction of
changing consumer tastes.
 French industry was retarded by imposed local tolls taxes and tariffs
that impeded the movement of goods.
 French agriculture was burdened by taxes on land and profits of
farming that was enforced by landed nobility. Incentives for
individuals to accumulate wealth and expand investment were
seriously impaired.
 For centuries the authorities subjected the grain trade to a severe
regulations. The freedom enjoyed by other trades were denied to
grain trade.
 Merchant and crafts guilds impeded the free entry of labor into
certain occupations, restricted and regulated output, fixed prices and
opposed competition.

69
 Major tenets of Physiocracy
 Natural Order
 Laissez faire

 Emphasis on agriculture

 Taxation on land owner

 Inter relatedness of the economy

 The physiocrats introduced the concept of natural order to

economic thinking, i.e., the idea that the laws of nature
govern human societies just as those discovered by Newton
govern the physical world.( Natural order)
 In the economic sphere the laws of nature conferred to the individuals
the natural right to enjoy the fruits of their labor, provided that such
enjoyment was consistent with the rights of others.

70
 Major tenets of the school
 Governments should never interfere in economic affairs
beyond the minimum required to maintain freedom of
contract and the protection of life and property.( laissez
faire – let the people do as they please without government
interference )
 Industry trade and the professions were useful but sterile ,
simply reproducing the value consumed in the form of raw
materials and subsistence for the workers, while agriculture
was productive because it produces a surplus, a net product
above the value of the resources used in production.
( Emphasis on agriculture)

71
 Major tenets of the school
 Emphasis on taxation of the land owner
 Because only agriculture produced surplus, which the land owner
received in the form of rent, only the land owner should be taxed.
 Although all taxes imposed on others would be passed on to the
landowner anyway ( indirect taxes), directly taxing the land owner
(direct tax) was preferable to indirect taxes as they were increasing
when they were passed along to others.
 The economy was believed to be interdependent and the
circular flow of goods and money was analyzed. “Tableau
economique” of Quesnay was a table that traces spending,
revenue received, by farmers, landlords, manufacturers and
merchants.

72
 Whom did the school benefit or seek
to benefit
 Peasants ultimately would gain from the ideas of the
physiocrats.
 Businesses would gain from the removal of the of all
restrictions on production and the movement of goods
 The doctrine of laissez faire promotes industry though
it was not the intensions of the physiocrats.
 Physiocrats favored capitalist farms.
 A single tax to all land in production would benefit the
landlords.
73
 Usefulness , validity or correctness
of the school in its time
 Industry was an activity that was extremely low in productivity
and appeared to be sterile as compared to agriculture that has
sometimes bountiful harvest.
 By emphasizing agriculture they departed away from the
mercantilist thinking of only commerce creates and augments
wealth.
 The school emphasized production rather than exchange as a
source of wealth.
 The support for direct tax was a valid reaction to the cascaded
indirect taxes that corroded the society at the time.

74
 Lasting contribution of the school
 Physiocrats laid a foundation for economics to be a social
science by examining society as a whole and analyzing the laws
that governed the circulation of goods and wealth, which were
the precursor of the flow and national accounts concepts of the
modern time.
 The law of diminishing returns actually originated from the
physiocrats( particularly Turgot)
 Physiocrats originated the idea of tax shifting and incidence
 Through the idea of laissez faire, they directed attention to the
analysis of the proper role of governments in the economy.

75
 Physiocrats
 Francios Quesnay
 Hoped to transform the king to enlightened despot
 Expressed that small farms were incapable of the most productive
method, and favored large farms managed by entrepreneurs.
 Analogous to the natural organism and conforming to the natural
order, the circulation of wealth and goods in the economy was like
the circulation of blood in the body.
 Laws made by people should be in harmony with natural laws.
 Constructed Tableau Economique, which was the first systematic
analysis of the flow of wealth. A.Smith. K. Marxs and M. keynes, who
later on also described the economy in terms of large aggregates,
paid tributes to Quesnay.
 Quesnay’s Tableau Economique foreshadowed national income
analysis and the modern circular flow of wealth and goods. It was
also the predecessor of the input- output analysis of Leontief.
76
 Francios Quesnay cont’d

 Regarding rent, he believed that nature, not the worker,

produced the surplus and hence the land lord has the
right to the surplus product.
 Quesnay defended the interest of the land lord but
landlords took his proposal of taxing only the lard lords
as an attack on their interests.
 Quesnay argued against excess luxury in the way of
decoration, and preferred spending on raw materials.
 Quesnay’s thinking had medieval flavor in his
glorification of agriculture, in fixing of the interest rate
by government, in favoring the “Just price”. However,
he believed the free market rather than regulation by
authority would best achieve the “Just price”
 Anne Robert Jacques Turgot
77
 4.The Classical school
 The school began in 1776, when Adam Smith published his Wealth of
Nations. It ended in 1871 when books on marginalist theories were
published by Stanley Javons, Carl Menger, and Leon Walras independently.
 The Historical back ground of the school
 The scientific revolution has discovered and advanced Natural laws, Planetary
motion, Universal Gravitation and laws of motion etc.
 The revolution in science relied heavily on experimental evidences.
 Scientists like Newton popularized the already existing idea that the universe is
governed by natural laws.
 The system of Newton was a static view of the universe that saw that nothing
changes over time. The motion and relationships in the universe continue in
endless repetition.
 This view served as a framework for the classicists that the natural laws would
guide the economic system and the actions of people.
 The Devine will had created a mechanism that works automatically without
interference . This applies to society and hence laissez faire was the highest form
of wisdom in social affaires.

78
 Historical Back ground
of the School cont’d

 The industrial revolution was beginning and gaining momentum in England

 England was gaining supremacy in both commercial and industry and stood
to benefit greatly by free international trade.
 As English Entrepreneurs became stronger, they no longer were dependent
on government subsidies, monopoly privileges and tariff protection
 The entrepreneurs were increasing in number and hence monopoly
agreements could no more be easy to realize.
 Competition began to ensure moderate prices and good quality
 Wage and labor regulations by government had given way to market forces
and conditions of labor supply and demand were dictating low market
determined wages.
 The enclosure law brought land and strict private ownership regime and
encouraged larger scale and more capital intensive agriculture that turned
peasants into wage earners
 The factory system displaced handicrafts men, driving them to the labor
market as wage earners.
79
 Major Tenets of the school
 Economic liberalism
 Classical doctrine is economic liberalism on the basis of personal liberty,
private property, individual initiative, private enterprise, minimal
government interference.
 Minimal government involvement
 The best government governs the least. The economy is self adjusting
and tending toward full employment with out government interference.
 Self interested economic behavior
 Self interested behavior is basic to human nature where actors produce
or sell to make profits, workers offer labor services to secure wages
consumers purchase to satisfy their wants.
 Harmony of interests
 By pursuing their individual interests people served the best interest of
society

80
 Major Tenets cont’d
 Importance of all economic resources and activities.
 Land, labor capital and entrepreneurship as resources
and agriculture, commerce, production and exchange as
economic activities contribute to a nation’s wealth.
 Recognition of economic laws:
 Focused on explicit economic theories or “laws”.
Examples
 The law of diminishing returns
 The theory of population ( Malthusian)
 The law of markets
 Recardian theory of rent
 The quantity theory of money
 The labor theory of value

81
 Classical school cont’d
 Whom did the school benefit
 Classical ideas helped to promote the political , social and economic
climate that encouraged industry, trade and profit.

 How was the school valid, useful or correct in its time?

 It rationalized the practice of enterprising people.
 It justified the overthrow of mercantilism
 Reliance on competition was a timely view point
 Restricting the role of wasteful and corrupt government
was valid and well grounded.
 It helped to remove the remnants of feudalism and
enhanced investment in agriculture and industry
82
 Classical School cont’d
 Lasting Contributions Of the Classical School
 The several laws are now thought as the principles
of economics
 The law of diminishing returns
 The law of comparative advantage
 The notion of consumer sovereignty
 The importance of capital accumulation to growth
 The market mechanism for reconciling the interest of
individuals to that of society

83
 4.1. Precursors of Classical
Economic thought

Sir William Petty as a precursor of the classical

school (He Was a pioneer statistician)
 Velocity of money
 velocity of money can be as important as the quantity of money
 Division of labor
 Recognized the economics associated with the specialization of
labor and division of tasks e.g. Cloth must be cheaper when one
cards, another spins, and another weaves
 Rent theory
 Arrived at a primitive theory of rent saying that a farmer planting a
corn taking out the seed out of the proceed of his harvest and also
what himself has eaten and given to others in exchange for
clothing and other natural necessities, the remainder of corn is the
natural and true rent of the land for that year.

84
 Sir William Petty cont’d

 What were the shortcomings of this analysis?

 the failure to separate the return to capital from the return to land
 The failure to show rent to be a differential return arising at the
intensive and extensive margin of cultivation.
 Petty didn’t realize that land nearer to the market yielded a higher
rent

 Importance of capital
 Argued that the use of tools is much productive than simple labor
 Labor theory of value
 The value of a bushel of corn will be equal to that of an ounce of
silver if the labor necessary to produce each is the same.
 Refer books for more discussions
85
 Sir Dudley North as a precursor
of the classical school
 Trade is not for one side benefit
 Trade’s object is not to accumulate specie

 Wealth should not be measured by the stock of precious metals

 What matters is not money but bread

 Laissez faire in intra and inter national trade enables maximum

gains
 Not complete harmony in interests( this makes him different from

most classical thinkers)

 Disagreed that war and conquest enrich a country( in opposition to

mercantilist) and undermined service and emphasized goods

production( Not akin to a classical)
 Saw Industry as less important ( Not akin to a classical)

 Refer books for more discussions

86
 Richard Cantillon as a
precursor of the classical school
 Used the concept entrepreneurship for the first time.
 Predates Quesnay in recognizing the circular flow of resources
 Developed the theory of value and price ( Intrinsic value and market
price )
 He had a theory of population growth where population growth is
endogenous to the economic prosperity
 Analyzed interest as a reward for risk taking in lending
 Supported the export of surplus( Like the mercantilists)
 Believed that gold and silver mined at home would not bring wealth
rather raise domestic prices rather emphasized production of goods
and selling abroad.
 Stated that export surplus cannot be maintained for long
 Refer books for more discussions
87
 David Hume as a precursor

of the classical school

 Discussed the price-specie mechanism( like Cantillon)
 Price adjustment would not take place instantaneously, it
follows indirect routes)
 Imbalance of trade tends to correct itself
 Promoted a cooperative game in trade
 Stated that international trade will not perpetuate the
differences between advanced and less advanced nations
 Opposed the the physiocratic idea of tax on workers getting
passed to land lords
 Displayed insight to the Recardian Rent theory.

Refer books for more discussions

88
 4.2 Adam Smith( 1723-1790)
The founder of the classical school
 The key influences on Adam Smith
 The general Intellectual Climate of the time known
as the enlightenment ( Enlightenment thinkers were
optimists of the human progress)
 His close friendship with Quesnay and Turgot
during his stay in France for more than two years
( For Adam Smith Physiocracy was the “nearest
approximation to the truth”
 Francis Hutchison’s ( Adam Smith’s
Instructor)moral philosophy and David Hume’s
philosophy and economic ideas 89
 Important works of Adam Smith
 The theory of moral sentiments ( published 17 years before the “Wealth
of Nations”
 The book discussed the moral forces that restrain selfishness
( Sympathy and benevolence restrain selfishness)
 An Enquiry into the Nature and Cause of the Wealth of Nations
 The book discussed various economic issues

 The division of labor:- that the division of labor increases the

quantity of output produced for three reasons.

 Develops increased dexterity in performing one single task

 Saves time through reduced movement

 Simplifies tasks for use of machinery and increases

productivity.

90
 Important works of Adam Smith
 The Harmony of interests
 “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher , the brewer, or the
baker that we expect our dinner but from their regard to their own
interest…. By pursuing his own interest each individual frequently
promotes that of society more effectually than when he really
intends it.’
 The action of each producer or merchant who is attempting to gain
profit is restrained by the other producers or merchants who are
likewise attempting to make money. Competition drives down prices
and reduces profit. The pursuit of self interest restrained by
competition thus tends to produce Smiths social good- maximum
output and economic growth: Social good arising from the harmony
of interests

91
 Important works of Adam Smith cont’d
 Limited government and laissez faire
 As long as there exists harmony of interests government
intrusion is unneeded and undesirable.
 According to Smith governments are wasteful, corrupt inefficient and
the granters of monopoly privileges to the detriment of the society as
a whole. Laissez faire was promoted by Smith.
 However Smith saw a significant but limited role for government
involvement.
 To protect society

 To administer justice

 To erect and maintain public works that private entrepreneurs

can not undertake profitably

92
 Important works of Adam Smith cont’d
 To finance these government activities Smiths recommended
Taxation. Taxes should be
 Proportional to the revenue enjoyed under protection

 Predictable and uniform as to the time of payment, the

manner of payment and the amount of payment

 Collected at minimum cost to the government

 Extension of harmony of interests and laissez faire to International

trade
 “ If a foreign country can supply us with a commodity cheaper

than we can make it, better buy it of them with some part of
the produce of our own industry, employed in a way which we
have some advantage.”
 The law of absolute advantage in international trade

93
 Important works of Adam Smith cont’d
 The market laws of competitive economy
 Value (there are two kinds of value)
 Value in use ( the utility of some commodity)
 Value in exchange( the power of purchasing other goods)
 Smith didn’t solve the paradox of value ( why objects
having high value in use may possess little value in
exchange(like water) and why objects having little value
in use may possess high value in exchange(like diamond)
 He focused on exchange value and the source or
determinant of exchange value for him was the cost of
production
94
 Important works of Adam Smith cont’d
 Smith examined exchange value under two circumstances
 “An early and rude state” where labor is the only scarce
resource(capital and land are either non existent or free goods)
 Advanced economy where capital had accumulated and land
commanded a positive price.
 Labor cost theory of value in primitive society:
 In a society where labor is the only resource the relative value of a
good ( exchange value) would be determined by the amount of labor
necessary to produce it. This is the labor cost theory of value
( remember William Petty)
 Labor command theory of value in advanced economy:
 The growth of capital invalidates the simple labor cost theory of
value
 The real value of commodities can no more be measured by the95
 Important works of Adam Smith cont’d

 In societies where capital investment and land resources become

important goods will normally be exchanged for other goods , for
money or for labor at a figure high enough to cover wages rents and
profits
 However the real value can still be measured by the quantity of labor
which they can purchase or command
 The quantity of labor that a commodity can buy exceeds the quantity
of labor embodied in the in its production by the total profits and
rents.
 The value of any commodity to the person who possesses it , if he
wishes to exchange it for other commodities, is equal to the quantity
of labor which it enables him to purchase or command. This is
referred as labor commanded theory of value

96
 Important works of Adam Smith cont’d

 For A. Smith Demand does not influence the value of

commodities
 The cost of production i.e., wages , rent and profits are the
only determinants of value in the long run
 The Implicit assumption of Smith is that production expands and
shrinks at constant cost per unit output
 Competition drives down prices to cost that include normal profits
 Any increase in demand will not increase value because the
cost of producing each unit of the good remains unchanged
 Note that if the assumption was that unit cost of production changes
as production increases and shrinks, then Smiths principle becomes
untenable. In that case changes in demand will affect changes in
production and hence changes in prices.
97
 Important works of Adam Smith cont’d
 Market price:- Smith like Cantillon makes a distinction between:
 Intrinsic or natural price-( realized in the long run )

 The long run price below which entrepreneurs will not sell their

goods. Such prices just( exactly) cover average rates of wages,

rents and profits. If they sale below these prices in a desperate
situation they would not continue in their business
 Market price(realized in the short run) –

 The actual price any commodity is sold. It tends to fluctuate around

the natural price depending on the short run supply and demand.
When it happens to be above the natural price more goods come in
to the market depressing prices and when lower some productive
factors will be withdrawn, the quantity supplied falling and market
price rising to the natural rate.
 Short run demand and supply are not fundamental determinants of

prices( exchange value) but are simple causes of fluctuations of the

market price around the natural or intrinsic price.
98
 Important works of Adam Smith cont’d
 Smith distinguishes between Real and Nominal price.
 Increases in the stock of money increases the money price of

commodities
 Real price of a commodity is its command over labor, not its command

over money.
 Wages : Smith addresses
 The aggregate level of wages

 The growth of wages overtime

 The structure of wages

 The aggregate level of wages

 Average annual wage =(Wage fund)/(number of laborers)
 The wage fund is a part of stock of circulating capital out of which present
wages are paid. The stock consists of the savings of the capitalists from
previous production and sales. The wage fund is fixed in the short run but
can expand from year to year
99
 Important works of Adam Smith cont’d
 The minimum wage rate must be that which enable a worker with a
family to survive and perpetuate labor supply
 The growth of wages overtime
 When demand for labor rises, wages will rise above the minimum.

The rate of increase of national wealth determines the demand for

labor and the wages by influencing the size of the wage fund.
 Smith also laid the basis for the modern concept of economies

of high wages or efficiency wage theory where high wages

increase the health and strength of workers and induce more
labor supply
 If the wealth is stationary population and labor supply will depress
wages. His emphasis is on Capital accumulation and economic growth in
opposition to the low wages doctrine of Mercantilists
 Bargaining play a role in determining wages

100
 Important works of Adam Smith cont’d
 The structure of wages
 With the underlying assumption of a society with perfect liberty to

choose and change occupations, advantages and disadvantages of

every type of employment would be equal or tend toward
equality( the theory of equalizing differences or compensating wage
differentials)
 According to the theory of equalizing differences or compensating

wage differential theory actual wage rates for different jobs, the
actual wage structure, would vary according to the five factors:
 Agreeableness of occupation

 Cost of acquiring the skill(Knowledge):embryonic human capital

theory
 Regularity of employment

 Level of trust and responsibility attached

 Probability or improbability of success

101
 Important works of Adam Smith cont’d
 Profit :
 is a compensation for the risk of losses and a return for
entrepreneurial effort ; hence, Smith argues, the lowest profit must
be high enough to compensate risk of loss plus some surplus( gross
profit). Net profit is the surplus alone.
 In countries that are advancing rapidly in wealth, competition among
businesses lowers the rate of profit.
 The low rate of profit in such countries offset the effect of high
wages and these countries sell goods as cheaply as those having
lower wage rates.
 Interest :was not treated as a separate distributive share. It was
handled simply as a deduction from profit. The lowest rate of interest
a little higher than the losses that sometimes occur through lending
and generally lower than the rate of profit. As profits rise borrowers
seek more money and interest rate rises. 102
 Important works of Adam Smith cont’d
 Rent:Smith presents several theories of rent
 Rent as a component of the cost of production and
constituent of price and determinant of price.
 Rent as a price paid for the use of land the amount of which
is determined by the price of the agricultural produce from
that land.Here rent is not the component of price of
agricultural produce.It is the highest price the tenant can
afford to pay after deducting wages , the wear and tear of
capital, average profit and other expenses of
production.Rent therefore is a surplus or a residual.High
prices high rents.
 Rent as a monopoly return
 Rent as an opportunity cost of using land for one purpose
rather than another. 103
 Important works of Adam Smith cont’d
 Smith’s view on wages, profits and rents constitute an
attempt to formulate a theory of factor share (functional)
distribution of income.
 Money:
 is vital as a means of payment but does not add to the
output or to the wealth of a society
 Paper money would do equally well as gold and silver.
 Public debt and taxes required to pay the interest were
detrimental to the economy as they induce the merchants
and manufacturers to invest abroad and growing debt would
in the long run probably ruin great nations of Europe.
104
 Important works of Adam Smith cont’d

 Economic development
 The division of labor spurs capital accumulation
and increase labor productivity; capital
accumulation and high wages also increase labor
productivity
 High wages arise from high wage fund which in
turn increases with capital accumulation
 Increased productivity increases national output
and increased wealth of a nation.
105
 4.3Thomas Malthus
 Influences on Malthus’s thinking
 The negative impacts of the Industrial Revolution and
growing urbanization were beginning to appear
 Controversies on growing poverty and what to do about it
 The legislation in 1795 of the latest of the series of “poor
laws” that stipulated the minimum income for the poor
families, and the following heated debate.
 The corn laws that placed tariff on imported grain and

the controversy
 The growing population and the pressure on food supply

106
 4.2Thomas Malthus
 The rising necessity to import food to England while the
Napoleonic wars kept the imports of food low and the
extreme prices of grains and land rent, which was
favorable to English Landlords
 The growing concern, after the defeat of Napoleon, of
English land lords on the surge of imported grain that
would depress grain prices
 the urge by the landlords to lift up the floor prices of
imported grains, which stood against the business
interest that spoke against high tariffs
 The arguments that followed to repeal Corn Laws
107
 Thomas Malthus
 The Intellectual Setting that influenced Malthus
 William Godwin

 A minister who turned anarchist and atheist.

 He opposed all coercion by the state and all collective action by

citizenry,
 relied on the voluntary goodwill and sense of justice of the

individual guided by the ultimate rule of reason

 Believed that the human race is perfectible through continuous

advance to rationality and increased well being

 A person’s character depends on the social environment and

perfect society will produce perfect people.

 The major obstacles to progress are private property, economic

inequality and the coercive state

 Population growth is not a problem as humanity will refuse to

propagate when population reaches its limits.

108
 Thomas Malthus
 The Marquis de Condorcet
 An eminent French mathematician of an aristocratic family, who was
skeptic in religion, a democrat in politics, a physiocrat in economics, and
a pacifist
 He welcomed and supported the French revolution
 He favored universal suffrage for men and women, opposed the
property qualification for voting and election to office
 He was persecuted by the revolution and went hiding for nine years .
 He wrote his most important work while hiding He wrote about social
progress based on three fundamental principles
 Equality among nations( which abolishes wars )

 Equality of individuals within nations( which overcomes social evils

and leads to perfections)

 The perfectibility of humanity

 Population would increase as a result of these beneficent reforms but

the food supply would increase even more rapidly. If not birth control
may have to be used.
109
 Thomas Malthus
 Malthus rebelled against these ideas of Godwin and Condorcet
 He argued that misery is rooted in the prolific fertility of human race, not in evil
human institutions.
 Goodwin and Condorcet were promoting ideas such as the abolition of War and
hunger, which are remedies of overpopulation.
 Malthus’s Population Theory
 was an explanation to account for much of that poverty and misery observable in
the lowest classes of every nation
 His law of population states
 Population When un checked increases geometrically( 1, 2, 4, 8, 16,…)

 Subsistence increases at best arithmetically(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,…………..)

 Types of checks to population growth

 Preventive checks( reduce the birth rate)
 He approved Moral restraint such as postponing marriage, never

marry, strict moral conduct before marriage

 He disapproved what he called vice such as prostitution and

mechanical birth control

110
 Thomas Malthus
 Positive checks( increase the death rate )
 These include famine, misery, plague and war, which Malthus
elevated to natural laws.
 He promoted the idea of facilitating these unfortunate evils to
increase mortality of the poor and control population
 He openly discouraged benevolent people who think they are
doing a service to mankind as mistaken.
 There must be no government relief for the poor( abolish the
poor laws)
 Accordingly the poor laws were amended in 1834. The law
aimed at making public assistance so unbearable that most
people would rather starve quietly than submit to its indignities
 Malthus ideas rendered Political economy the “dismal science”

111
 Thomas Malthus
 Malthus’s theory of market gluts
 Malthus developed the theory of the potential insufficiency of effective
demand
 Workers’ wages < value of the production by the amount of profit
 Capitalists buy some of the extra output in the form of capital goods there by
increasing production but not in the habit of consuming all their profit
 Investment is undertaken in the final analysis only to provide for
consumption, but if the final product cannot be sold no further investment
will be forthcoming
 Spending by land lords and their retinue is essential to avoid the
glut(overproduction ) of the market.(the need for Un productive
consumption)
 Rent is surplus over the cost of production and its expenditure would add to
effective demand without adding to the cost of production.
 The policy implications was the Retention of the corn laws, which were
important to enrich the landlords and foster unproductive consumption

112
 Thomas Malthus
 Malthus’s theory of diminishing returns in agriculture
 Improvements made to a fixed amount of land would provide
increasingly smaller rises in yields
 Appreciation of demand and supply, rather than cost of production
alone, as determinants of price
 Assessment of Malthus
 Over rated the significance of rent
 His distinction between productive and unproductive consumption is inaccurate
 Over rated the significance of population growth relative to that of subsistence
 He underestimated the possibility of enlarging agricultural produce
 Wages have been rising rather than being driven by biological subsistence
 He was moralizing than analyzing the means to limit population growth
 How ever his theory of population is still relevant to developing world

113
 4.4 David Ricardo
 Was a contemporary of Malthus who further developed the
ideas of the classical school.
 Was the leading figure in demonstration of the possibilities
of using the abstract method of reasoning to formulate
economic theories.
 He was an outstanding example of a deductive thinker. He
called his broad generalizations economic laws the operation
of which in economics are as valid as the laws of physics in
the natural sciences.
 Although he was well acquainted with the facts of business
and economic life, he did not use the inductive method of
reasoning.
114
 David Ricardo
 Ricardos ideas on the currency issue
 Amidst the prolonged war between France and England, when a panic
induced run on gold depleted the reserves in the Bank of England, the
Bank stopped paying gold on demand and people holding paper money
could not redeem it for gold.
 The price of gold gradually exceeded its mint parity price, a general price
inflation followed and “the currency question” was an issue of worry and
discussion.
 In his conclusion on “the currency question” he reaffirmed the quantity
theory of money. The Bank was over issuing paper currency because it
no longer was checked by the requirement to pay gold on demand By
increasing the money supply the Bank of England drove up prices of
commodities, thereby reducing the value of currency.
 The problem, according to Ricardo, was not the high price of gold,
rather the low value of the pound sterling.
 He suggested a return to the gold standard and after years of argument
his suggestion was passed by the parliament as law.
115
 David Ricardo
 Ricardo’s theory on diminishing returns and rent
 The law of diminishing returns and theory of rent developed
in response to the debate on the corn laws.
 Recardo was the first to use the concept of diminishing
returns to develop the theory of rent
 His definition of rent in perspective
 Rent is that portion of the produce of the earth, which is paid to
the land lord for use of the original and indestructible powers of
the soil
 Rent is the return on long run capital investment that are
amalgamated with the land and increase its productivity.
 Rent arises at both the extensive and intensive margin of
cultivation
116
 David Ricardo cont’d
 THE THEORY OF EXCHANGE AND RELATIVE PRICES
 Recardo was concerned on relative( ratio of exchange between
commodities) rather than absolute value.
 Utility( subjective want satisfying power) or use value is not the measure
of exchange value, although it essential to it.
 Commodities derive their exchange value from two sources.
 Scarcity
 The value of non reproducible commodities( such as rare works of art, classic
books, coins etc where the supply is fixed) is determined by scarcity alone. Their
Value is independent of the quantity of labor originally necessary to produce
them.
 The quantity of labor required to obtain them
 Most commodities are reproducible, and the value of reproducible commodities is
determined by the labor time necessary to produce it.
 Unlike Smith who stated ‘labor theory of value’ for primitive society and needed
‘labor commanded’ theory for advanced society, Recardo applied his labor theory
of value to advanced economy as well.

117
 David Ricardo
 The labor time includes not only the work done in making the
commodity itself but the work embodied in the raw materials and
capital goods used up in the process of production.
 This approach, according to Ricardo, explains the causes of changes

of exchange value overtime.

 Ricardo attempted to account for differences in:
 capital labor ratio,
 the combination of skilled and unskilled labor( labor quality

differences)
 Wages, profit rates and rent among producers

 Two capitalists may employ the same quantity of labor in the production
of their goods and yet the goods they produce differ in value because of
the different quantities of fixed capital used by each. A commodity will
sell at more than its labor time value if more than average capital is
invested in its production.
 Ricardo recognized that not all labor is of equal quality. We can simply
think of the an hour of labor of a skilled labor as being double or triple
of the labor time of less skilled labor

118
 David Ricardo
 Exchange value does not depend on wages, profits , what matters
for exchange value is labor time required to produce the good.
 Rent does not figure in to the exchange value of a commodity. Prices
determine rent.
 Wages and profits vary inversely
 Labor does not have to receive the whole product simply because
labor is the source and measure of value.
 Ricardo makes a distinction between market prices and
value( natural price).
 Market prices deviate from the natural price due to accidental or
temporary fluctuations of demand and supply.
 Higher market prices lead to higher profits and attract capital , if
market prices fall below the natural price capital flows out of the
industry. These actions tend to equalize the rate of profit and tend to
keep market prices proportional to values.
 Short run prices depend on demand and supply while long run values
depend on real cost of production.

119
 David Ricardo

 Ricardo on Distribution of income

 For Ricardo political Economy is a subject of enquiry in to
the laws which determine the division of the produce of
industry among the classes who concur in its formation,
rather than the enquiry in to the cause of wealth.
 His concern was for understanding the forces that determine
the shares of the national income accruing as wages , profits
and rents.
 Wages
 Labor, like all other goods that are bought and sold, has
natural price and market price.
 The natural price of labor is that that enables workers to subsist
and perpetuate themselves. It depends on the price of the
necessities of life
 Market price depend on supply and demand.
120
 David Ricardo
 In the long run both the natural and market prices of labor rise
because of increased difficulty in producing food.
 However in the long run the worker gets a minimum wage of
subsistence( the Iron law of wages)
 Profits
 the rate of profit in different industries with in a country
tend to equalize.
 Higher profits come at the expense of wages and higher
wages come out at the expense of profits. High wages
or higher profits are not passed on prices.
 The reason lies
 In the equation of exchange and
 in the international balance of payments. 121
 David Ricardo
 The long run trend for the profit rate and the share of profit from
the national income would fall because of the increasing difficulty
of growing food for expanding population
 As population increases the increased demand for food raises it
prices and poorer land goes in to cultivation and better land will be
more intensively cultivated. This will raise rents, and nominal
wages to maintain subsistence wage.
 Falling rates of profit would curb accumulation and investment of
capital and would ultimately produce a stationary state.
 The stationary state would be reached when new investment
ceases, population no more expands, as the limit of food
production has been reached, and every available surplus goes as
rent.
 Ricardo saw conflict of interest between workers and capitalists and
even deeper conflict between landlords and the rest of society.

122
 David Ricardo
 Policy implications of Ricardo’s theory of distribution
 Wages should be deregulated( opposed the poor laws)
 Tax rent would affect only rent ( agreed with Physiocrats)
 Rebuff and removal of the corn laws would benefit society( opposed
to Malthus)
 Ricardo’s theory of comparative costs
 He made a strong argument for free trade based on the efficiency gains it
confers.
 Even if one country is more efficient than another in producing all
commodities trade between the two could be of mutual benefit ( Theory of
comparative advantage)
 Each Nation should produce the product for which it has a relative
advantage; that is, the product for which it has the lowest domestic
opportunity cost.
 In formulating this theory, Ricardo assumed immobility of factors(that
capital and labor did not flow between countries)

123
 David Ricardo

 He implicitly assumed that cost will remain constant as

output increased. Otherwise specialization would not
proceed to its fullest extent
 Ricardo on unemployment
 He maintained that full production and employment
normally would prevail.
 He raised the possibility of technological unemployment
in the short run

124
 David Ricardo
 Evaluation of Ricardo
 Lasting Contributions to economic analysis
 The use of abstract thinking

 The theory of comparative advantage

 Employment of marginal analysis

 The presentation on the law of diminishing returns in agriculture

 Extending economic analysis to include distribution of income

 Weaknesses
 Overemphasis on the law of diminishing returns in agriculture and

disregarded the role of technology and fast accumulation of capital in

pushing total product up[wards
 Overemphasis of the idea that the land lords as a whole have no

interest in increased productivity of the land.

 The wrong assumption that land has only one use and has no

opportunity cost, therefore is not part of cost of production.

125
 4.5 Other important classical thinkers
 Jeremy Bentham
 Bentham boasted that he was the spiritual father of James mill,
James was the spiritual father of Ricardo and there he was the
spiritual grandfather of Ricardo
 The central theme of Bentham’s thought is Utilitarianism( the principle
of the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people)( Note that
hedonism centers on the individual)
 Money is the instrument that measures the quantity of pleasure or pain
 ( cardinal utility)

 Bentham argued that wealth is a measure of happiness but it has

diminishing marginal utility as it increases.This idea supported the
distribution of income.However the tendency towards equality by
redistribution creates insecurity and loss of incentive. When ever
equality and security are in opposition equality should give way.
 Individuals themselves , not government, are generally the best judge
of their interest and well being.

126
 Bentham
 Criticism
 Economic
 Pleasure and pain are subjective and is extremely
difficult to make interpersonal comparison of utility and
using money paid in the market as a measure is not
satisfactory as what people are willing to pay are greater
than what they actually pay.
 Philosophical and ethical criticisms
 Good life is more than the narrow definition of happiness
 It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied.
 Happiness is not the object of life.Life has no object. Life is an
end in itself.

127
 Other important classical thinkers
 Jean Babtist Say
 On value , costs of Monopoly, and entrepreneurship
 Opposed the labor theory of value and replaced it with supply and
demand, which in turn are regulated by cost of production and utility
(though more advanced thinking than Ricardo he didn’t how ever show the price and
quantity schedules as A. Marshall)
 Monopoly Costs are efficiency losses,( deadweight losses) plus use of
scarce resources to protect monopoly interests
 He emphasized Entrepreneurship as a fourth factor of production on
top of the traditional factors land labor and capital
 Law of markets
 general Overproduction is impossible . Supply creates its own
demand
128
 Other important classical thinkers
 Nassau William Senior
 He wished to separate the science of political economy from all :
 value judgments,

 policy pronouncements and

 efforts to promote welfare
 ( In today’s thinking it is Known as the separation of positive and normative

economics)
 Senior put forward four “empirically verifiable” principles of economics from
which integrated theory could be deduced
 The principle of income or utility maximization

 Principles of population

 Principle of capital accumulation

 Principle of diminishing returns

 The exchange value of goods depends on supply and demand underlying the
concept demand is the concept of diminishing utility of goods(a concept that was
later developed by Marginalists ).Supply depends on the subjective cost of
production,i.e., the sum of sacrifices required to produce goods. That were the
labor of workers and the abstinence of the capitalists ( abstinence is anew
term in economics lexicon contributed by Senior)
129
 Other important classical thinkers
 Senior disagreed with the distinction of productive and
unproductive labor of Smith who thought producers of
service were unproductive workers.
 To senior the proper distinction is between productive
and unproductive consumption. In the class of
Unproductive consumption were the use of jewelry,
tobacco, beer etc which diminish the power to produce.
 Falling out from his own prescription on what an
economist should do ( should not give any advice apart
from telling the truth alone) he had policy positions on
the :
 poor laws
 trade unions
 Factory acts 130
 Other important classical thinkers
 John Stuart Mill(The last great Economist of the Classical school)
 Production( the productive factors, labor , capital and land)
 He defined wealth as all useful things that possess exchange value. Only
material are included
 Productive labor is the exertion that produces( directly and indirectly) utilities
embodied in the material objects.
 Unproductive labor is that which does not terminate in the production of
material wealth.
 Capital is the accumulated stock of the produce of labor.
 Increase in capital depends on surplus and the disposition to save.
 Every increase of capital is capable of giving additional employment to labor.
 If the capitalist spend less on luxury consumption and more on investment,
the wage fund and the demand for labor would rise.
 If population rises the increased demand for necessities by wage earners
offsets the decreased demand for luxuries by capitalists
 If population rises in less proportion to capital accumulation wages would
rise and luxury consumption of the workers would supplement that of
employers

131
 Other important classical thinkers
 Thus the limit of wealth is never the deficiency of consumers but of
producers and productive powers.
 What are the limits to production?
 Labor is not one of them because population increases geometrically,
though population is limited by fear of want rather than by want itself.
 Since the increase of capital depends on the surplus produced and the
disposition to save, the greater the profit that can be made from
capital the stronger the motive for accumulation. Hence the limit
does not from capital.
 Land and its limited productiveness is the real barrier to increases in
production. There is increasing returns to scale in manufacturing while
there is decreasing returns to scale in agriculture( applied the short
run law of diminishing returns only on agriculture) This distinction
arise from the assumption that capital can be increased indefinitely
while land cannot.
 The distinction between the short run concept of diminishing returns
and the long run concept of returns to scale was important insight.

132
 Other important classical thinkers,
John Stuart Mill
 On Distribution
 The laws and conditions of production of wealth partake of the
character of natural laws, but that does not hold for distribution since
they are a matter of solely human institutions
 On profit: profit is composed of three parts:- interest( the reward for
abstinence), insurance( rewards to risk) and wages of
superintendence
 Allowing for differences in risk and other reasons behind the
components of profit, the profit in all spheres of the employment of
capital tend to be equal. In the long run profit will tend to diminish.
 On Wage Fund
 Wages depend mainly on labor supply and demand
 Demand for labor depends on the wage fund( capital kept aside for the
payment of wages), presupposes unitary elasticity of demand for labor
 Supply of labor depends on the number of people seeking work.
 Minimum wage set by government above the equilibrium wage
doesn’t have the effect of increasing the total wage payment
133
 Other important classical thinkers,
John Stuart Mill
 Mill recognized, like Smith did, Expenditures on education partly
represent present investment justified by later wage returns( human
capital theory)
 On Exchange
 Price expresses the value of a thing in relation to money.
 The value of a commodity is measured by its general power to
purchase other commodities
 The value of a commodity cannot rise higher than its estimated
use value to the buyer
 Effectual demand (desire plus purchasing ability) is one
determinant of value
 But differing quantities are demanded at different values

 Since demand depended on value and value depended on

demand it led Mill to introduce the demand schedule and

this was a great leap in the theory of value.
134
 Other important classical thinkers,
John Stuart Mill
 Mill understood supply schedules and elasticity of supply as well.
 He classified goods in to three types
 Goods absolutely limited in quantity (goods of inelastic supply
where demand is of greater importance to determine value)
 Goods the supply of which is perfectly elastic( the majority of
goods fit in this category; value is determined by cost of production, production
can expanded without limit at constant cost)
 Goods where a limited quantity can be produced at a given cost( goods that fall
in between the above two categories, those with a relative elastic supply; if more
is wanted it has to be produced at higher costs; the value of such goods depends
on the most costly portion of the supply required)
 In his contribution on international trade , Mill introduced the concept of
elasticity of demand to explain how the gains from trade would be
divided among countries; Ricardo’s trade theory was incomplete in this
respect

135
 5 The Socialist thought
 Historical background
 The industrial revolution and advent of large factories brought to an end
to the agricultural village handcraft economy
 Around the factories misery was a way of life
 Industrial accidents brought little or no compensation
 Political rights did not exist and unions were illegal
 Poverty of the great masses was dominant
 It was questionable whether the mechanical invention reduced the day’s
toil of human beings.
 Types of Socialism
 Utopian Socialism
 State socialism
 Christian socialism
136
 The Socialist thought
 Anarchism
 Marxian Socialism( scientific socialism)
 Communism
 Revisionism
 Syndicalism
 Guild socialism
 Commonalities of Socialism
 Repudiation of class harmony
 Opposition to laissez faire( anarchists were exceptional)
 Rejection of Say’s Law( capitalism is doomed to crisis or stagnation)
 Belief in the perfectibility of people and their ability to be free of
selfish interest
 Advocacy of collective action
137
Whom did socialism benefit?
 The moderate groups ( utopian,
Christian and Gild socialists) claimed to
represent every body with emphasis on
workers.
 The extreme groups (Anarchists,
Syndicalists, Marxists ) proclaimed class
struggle against the rich, to promote
the interest of the working class.
138
 The validity of socialism in its time
 The socialists concentrated on the problems
that the status quo failed to address: poverty
and recurring business crises .

 The socialists promoted factory laws, unions,

sanitary reforms, cooperative associations,
workers compensation laws, pensions etc
which were opposed by the classical thinkers.
 Addressing these issues were valid concerns
139
 Lasting contributions of socialism

 Many of the tenets of socialism have not stood the test of time. The reorganization
of society along socialist lines has not brought about the hoped for:
 freedom,

 increased collective activity for the common good

 Better standards of morality and justice

 Greater security for the individual etc

 More over the predictions that the working class will be more impoverished

under capitalism has not occurred

 However socialist have left behind lasting economic ideas of:
 the socialist economic thought of state planning and the ownership of the means
of production
 policy recommendations now institutionalized in capitalist countries, such as
social security, workers compensation, unemployment compensation, minimum
wage, overtime pay rules, etc
 the analysis of the growth of monopoly power, problems of income distribution,
and the reality of the business cycle

140
 5.1 Utopian Socialists : Henri Comte de Saint
Simon
 He developed his socialist ideas before the working class
movement took shape in France and hence didn’t appeal to
the workers to rise against their employers
 Made a religion of work
 Suggested an industrial parliament consisting of three
chambers, invention( composed of artistes and engineers),
reviewing( composed of scientists), execution ( composed of
leaders of industry)
 This was one of the earliest proposals for central planning

 The prosperity of France can only exist through the effects of

the progress of the sciences, fine arts, and professions. The
Princes, the great household officials , the Bishops, marshals,
the idle landowners contribute nothing directly to the
progress of the sciences, fine arts and the professions, rather
they hinder their progress by depriving them of what they
should have been entitled.
 He has enthusiasm for large scale industry 141
 Utopian Socialists :Charles Fourrier
 Disliked large scale production , mechanization, and centralization
 Believed that competition leads to wasting of resources
 Commerce to him was pernicious and corrupt
 To remove social problems he believed that organizing cooperatives called
phalanxes was necessary and made an elaborate plan for the cooperative
communities.
 Agriculture and handicraft production would predominate and the output of
wealth would increase tenfold over that of the chaotic private industry.
 Eg: a large granary would be more economical to build and easier to guard against
fire than 300 small ones
 People living together in honor and comfort would eliminate theft and eliminate the
expense in guarding against it
 the economies of a common kitchen and apartment rather than separate dwellings
were carefully worked out.
 The phalanxes would provide a minimum subsistence regardless of contributions
 Within the Phalanxes the problem of who would be assigned to perform the
dirty work was solved by Fourrier identifying children as the most disposed and
appropriate as they love dirt.
 The surplus produced by the cooperatives would be divided 5/12 to labor, 4/12
to capital and 3/12 to talent and skill
 The cooperative movement is in part the living monument of Fourrier.
142
 Utopian Socialists :Simonde De Sismondi
 He criticized Say’s Law
 He was one of the early contributors to the business cycle theory
 Pointed out the possibility of over production and crisis.
 He thought that the subsistence level of wages and capital funds
available for investment through bank credit lead to booms
 and the increased output and the limited demand result in periodic
crisis.
 due to narrow home markets industry will be compelled to open up
foreign markets , which will necessarily result in nationalistic wars
 Economic imperialism is inherent in capitalism
 He suggested a relatively modern prescription for glut cure
i.e. public works
 He was the first to use the term proletary to mean the wage laborer

143
 Robert Owen
 His central thesis was that the environment molds human
nature and people are not truly responsible for their action.
 Providing better conditions for work would produce better
people.
 He appealed to the government to enact the factory
legislations and succeeded partially
 Denounced all established religions because they taught
people are responsible for their deeds and evils.
 One should try to serve the community and thereby
achieve happiness. This stood in opposition to the classical
idea of pursuit of self interest would serve society.

144
 Own cont’d
 Own introduced his reforms in his own factory. His
employees worked hard and he made good profits.
However his partners objected to his extravagance
 Having failed to convince capitalists and government to
organize the poor in villages of cooperation, he organized
his own in Indiana on 30000 acres , to sweep away
capitalism and the competitive system.
 Whereas Fourrier had allowed profit on capital invested in
Utopian colonies , Owen favored only a fixed interest rate
until the owners voluntarily give it up.
 In three years time the colony failed.

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 5.2 Marxian Socialism
 The differences from Utopian Socialists
 Utopians preached dramatic reforms and their criticism of

capitalism and its alleged evils was on moral grounds

 Marx believed that capitalism had inherent internal

contradictions that would ensure its eventual demise

 These internal contradictions necessitate social revolution

( social revolutions are inevitable)

 Socialism replaces capitalism as a result of the operation of

laws of social development that could be uncovered by

scientific analysis rather than reliance on wishes( scientific
socialism )
 The fall of capitalism and the triumph of socialism does not

come through moral criticisms and wishful thinking but

through class struggle and revolutions 146
 Marxian socialism cont’d
 Ricardo’s Labor theory of value
 Socialists sharp criticism of the classical economics
 Darwin’s evolution theory as a historico- natural basis
 Hegel’s dialectics - the process of conflict and unity of
opposite ideas ( thesis + anti thesis = synthesis ),
 Feuerbach’s materialism–the primacy of material being to
ideas, which served to formulate his historical materialism
 Marx ‘s Methodology
 Macro to micro

 Dialectical and Historical materialism

147
 Marxian socialism cont’d
 The law of motion of capitalist society
 The analysis is founded on
 The labor theory of value and socially necessary labor
time
 Components of value as C+V+S
where C- constant capital
V- Variable capital
S- Surplus value
 The theory of exploitation - the distinction between labor
power and labor time
 Capital accumulation and falling rate of profit
 Profit , and organic composition of capital

148
 Marxian socialism cont’d

 Organic Composition of capital ( Q)

Q=C/(C+V)
 Rate of Profit(P)

P=S/(C+V)
 Rate of surplus value ( S’)

S’=S/V
 From these relationships it follows that

P=S’(1-Q) , which means

the rate of profit declines with the growth of organic
composition of capital but increases with the rate of surplus
value

149
 Marxian socialism cont’d
 Reasons for increasing organic composition of capital is the drive for
temporary higher profits by reducing costs through promotion of
efficient production
 The greater the efficiency of production the lower the value of

labor power i.e., the number of hours required to produce that

required for subsistence , hence the greater the amount of
profit per day.
 Marx’s offsetting forces to the falling rate of profit
 Increasing S’ through raised pace of work or lengthened hours of
work
 temporary cuts of wages below value
 cheapening the constant capital
 setting new labor intensive industries that use the army of
unemployed
 cheapening constant and variable capital through international trade
and colonial opportunities

150
 Marxian socialism cont’d
 Capital Accumulation and Crisis
 marx believed that Says law , at best applies only to
simple commodity production
where Commodity – Money - Commodity is the
norm
 Under large scale capitalist production the process of

exchange becomes M-C-M’ where M’>M

 The relation M’ >M is destroyed through the competitive

process where rates of profit fall, loses occur to some and

go out of business while others buy them cheap.
 Starting with cheap capital restores the rate of profit and

another cycle begins to come to deeper crises in

magnitude the next time.( business cycle)

151
 Marxian socialism cont’d
 The dynamics of capital accumulation and recurring business
cycles centralize the ownership of capital and concentrate
wealth in few hands.
 The accumulation and centralization of capital on the one
hand and the impoverishment of workers ( in relative and
absolute terms )sets the stage for class conflict.
 Summary of Marx’s Law of motion of capitalism
 Labor theory of value, Theory of exploitation,
 Capital Accumulation
 Falling rate of profit , Business Cycle ,Technological Unemployment

 Centralization and Accumulation of capital,

 Immiserization and the reserve army of unemployed

 Class conflict

 The fall of capitalism

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