Principles Of Political Economy Research Articles

The community of advantage

This paper gives an overview of my recently published book, The Community of Advantage: A Behavioural Economist’s Defence of the Market. I explain that my stance as author is that of a behavioural economist and an economic liberal. The book is an attempt to counter the widespread belief that the findings of behavioural economics justify regulatory interventions in the economy that would previously have been thought unacceptably paternalistic. I argue that competitive markets are desirable, not as an efficient means for satisfying the given preferences of assumedly rational individuals, but as an institutional structure that provides opportunities for whatever voluntary transactions people might want to make.

Idleness and Aesthetic Consciousness, 1815–1900. Richard Adelman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Pp. v+233.

<i>Idleness and Aesthetic Consciousness, 1815–1900</i>. Richard Adelman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018. Pp. v+233.

Retrospectives Ricardo on Machinery

We are currently experiencing an outpouring of concern both popular and professional regarding technological unemployment. I shall be discussing an apparent about-turn on the subject by David Ricardo (1772–1823), who at different times, even in different chapters of the same book, and, indeed, even at different places in the same chapter, seemed to be on both sides of the argument as to whether technological unemployment should be a matter for concern. In a chapter entitled “On Machinery,” added to the third edition of his Principles of Political Economy (1821), which comprises volume 1 of his Collected Works (1951–73), Ricardo announced that he had become concerned about the possibility, even likelihood, of technical change detrimental to labour’s interests. However, in the very same “On Machinery” chapter, Ricardo also outlined qualifications to show that there was little need for concern. Ricardo’s opposing messages are reflected in contrasting reactions to the chapter “On Machinery.” Some readers—including Thomas Robert Malthus and J. R. McCulloch—understood it as supporting working-class opposition to machinery. Others—including John Stuart Mill and Sir John Hicks—find therein the answer to such opposition

ПРОБЛЕМЫ ДОЛГОСРОЧНОГО РОСТА ТЕКСТИЛЬНОЙ ИШВЕЙНОЙ ПРОМЫШЛЕННОСТИ РОССИИ

The article examines the regularities of the textile and clothing industry development in the conditions of globalization and challenges of the fourth industrial revolution from the view point of long-term growth theories. It stresses the historical role of the industry as a structural component of the national economy. The purpose of the study is to assess the current state, to determine the opportunities and trends of innovative breakthrough of the Russian textile and clothing industry. The methodologically the research is based on the fundamental models of economic growth. The article analyzes the trends of the global textile products and reveals the gap extent between Russian industry and the manufacturers in the leading countries. The hypothesis that the achievement of high growth rates in the textile and clothing industries can be ensured by a dynamic and steady growth of investments in fixed capital and human assets has been confirmed in the case study of China and Russia. To bring the industry out of the deep crisis, the necessity of using an endogenous model of economic growth based on investments in knowledge, new technologies and intellectual capital has been substantiated. The conceptual features of innovative development strategies implemented in Germany, the USA, China, India and Turkey have been characterized. The main directions of the growth model and restructuring of the textile and clothing industry in Russia have been identified. They are digital transformation under the influence of diffusion of advanced technologies, growth of the share of high-tech products and technical textiles, technological modernization of traditional production lines, creation of factories of the future, innovative platforms and clusters, development of institutions. It has been concluded, that at the present stage the most appropriate competitive strategy is dynamic catch-up that provides active adaptation and implementation of the world's best achievements in research and development. Particular attention is paid to institutions and huge state support for the development of conditions for business process integration, for the provision of interaction of all participants in the innovation and technological growth of the industry, as well as for the development of infrastructures and the formation of a favorable investment climate. Further studies in the field will be related to the use of tools of economic and mathematical modeling to study the factors of long-term growth of the textile and clothing industry in Russia and predict trends in its development. Keywords textile and clothing industry, endogenous growth model, digital economy, the factory of the future, the fourth industrial revolution, economy didgitalization, innovative system, development institutions, competitive advantages, global textile market. Acknowledgements The study was financially supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research grant No. 18-410-370004 “Forecast and assessment of strategic directions of socio-economic and innovative development of the textile industry on the basis of foresight research”.

Marx and Ricardo on machinery: a critical note

This article critically discusses the important and relevant—not to mention controversial— views of Ricardo and Marx on the impact of machinery on labor productivity, the organization of production and the wages and employment prospects of the working class during the capitalism of their day. First, the article turns to Ricardo’s assessment of the introduction of machinery and its likely effects on the laborer and the rate of profit and accumulation—one which went through a substantial revision (and reversal) between the first and third editions of his Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. Then, we discuss Marx’s own critical analysis of the historical development of machinery and its impact on the labor process, the so-called “compensation principle,” and how the rising organic composition of capital ostensibly generates a “redundant or surplus-population” during the course of capitalist development. We highlight Marx’s intellectual debt to Ricardo, John Barton (and George Ramsay) insofar as his theory of technological unemployment is concerned. Lastly, the article summarizes the views of Ricardo and Marx and offers some concluding remarks.

Mr. Ricardo's Theory of Land Rent

The top award for research given by the American Real Estate Society is the David Ricardo Medal, and 2017 is the 200th anniversary of the publication of The Principles of Political Economy and Taxa...

Cooperative Avant-garde: Rhetoric and Social Values of the New World of Arts in the System of the All-Russian Union of Artists’ Cooperatives ’Vsekokhudozhnik’

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A Brazilian Adam Smith: Cairu as the Founding Father of Political Economy in Brazil at the Beginning of the 19th Century

Historical essay about the career and work of Jose da Silva Lisboa, who, as a Brazilian born Portuguese subject, first read, translated, improved the works of Adam Smith for a Portuguese and Brazilian public. He held important posts as a high official of the Portuguese Crown, and after the Independence, a member of the Brazilian Parliament. Most important of his published works is Principles of Political Economy, which is an adapted version of Adam Smith's most important thesis, improved over Smithian conception of productive factors, adding the knowledge or intelligence element. Later he was given the title of Viscount of Cairu, and as such became the patron of the Brazilian economists.

A Note on the Role of Aggregate Demand in Ricardo

In the voluminous secondary literature on Ricardo’s political economy, there is no role for aggregate demand. Through a close reading of Ricardo’s Principles of Political Economy and Notes on Malthus, this paper argues that aggregate demand – defined as investment and consumption in the aggregate – matters in Ricardo notwithstanding his special assumption that saving is investment. After presenting Ricardo’s methodology through the distinct determinants of ‘value and riches’, the motives to accumulate and produce, and the saving-is-investment assumption, the scope of Say’s Law in Ricardo is laid out. Subsequently, through an exposition of his commentary on gluts and ‘extension of the market’, the theoretical possibility of aggregate demand deficiency in Ricardo is outlined.

The first reception of James Steuart in Italy: Giovanni Tamassia and his liberal economic reading of the Principles of Political Economy

ABSTRACTThis article has two aims. The first is to explore the early reception of James Steuart in Italy, focusing on Giovanni Tamassia’s writings. In his Dello spirito di riforma, written between 1799 and 1800, Tamassia was the first Italian author to assume Steuart as a point of reference in economic analysis. Largely re-proposing Steuart’s considerations on the issues of redistribution of land, of luxury, and of comparison between ancient and modern times, he contributed decisively to the first circulation in Italy of the Principles of Political Economy. The second aim is to shed light on the singular reading given by Tamassia of Steuart’s thought. In his works Lezione di economia politica and Delle scienze e della libertà relativamente al commercio, the Italian author proposed an economic liberal reading of the Principles. Deliberately downplaying the importance attributed by Steuart to protectionist policies, he attempted to demonstrate the compatibility between the economic theories of Steuart and those of Smith in the matter of economic freedom. Rather than being based on the grounds of a rigorous economic analysis, Tamassia’s reading reflected a deliberate attempt to make Steuart’s thought compatible with an economic and political culture centred on the defence of freedom.

Sir James Steuartʼs Theory of Commerce

Abstract: This article aims to realise the concept of commerce on market economy in Sir James Steuartʼs An Inquiry into the Principles of Political Economy. Studies concerning the social function of commerce remain limited, whereas commerce has performed an essential role for the functioning of the market. Sir James Steuart, known as a mercantilist, focused on importance of commercial activities and theorised on it in early times. I shall read his theory and offer an explanation of the idea and function of commerce in it. According to Steuartʼs Inquiry, Book II, the main concept of commerce is not an inter-mediary role between producers and consumers but a trade among merchants. Merchantsʼ be-havioural principle is rational, unlike the limited rationality of producers and consumers. Trade among merchants creates the proper market price through the operation of ʻdouble competitionʼ and provides market information to non-merchants, producers or consumers, by the market price determined by it. Moreover, through the emergence the current prices in trade, commerce promotes the use of money in consumersʼ hands. Steuartʼs theory of commerce provides an explanation of the reason for the necessity of merchants and commerce in market economy. His theory of the principle of commerce should be considered as an effective economic theory focusing on the significance of com-merce in modern economy. JEL classification numbers: B 11, B 31, D 49.

Technological Unemployment as a Coordination Problem: New Light on Emil Lederer's Work in Exile

Technological Unemployment as a Coordination Problem:New Light on Emil Lederer's Work in Exile Arash Molavi Vasséi (bio) INTRODUCTION Emil Lederer was a prominent economist and sociologist in the German Weimar Republic. Born in the Bohemian city of Pilsen in 1882, he died in political exile in New York City in 1939. According to Joseph Schumpeter, his lifelong friend, Lederer "may be described as the leading academic socialist of Germany in the 1920s" (Schumpeter 1954, 884, fn. 10). He was an esteemed colleague and well connected to the Republic's academic and political elites. Just before going into exile, Lederer held a prestigious chair at the University of Berlin, a chair previously held by the historical-school economist Gustav Schmoller. For 12 years (from 1922), he was the managing director of the Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik, the most eminent German journal in the social sciences. However, as a leading social democrat and passionate participant in public affairs, he was exposed in the fight against the Nazis. For instance, in February 1933, only a month before Hitler's Enabling Act, he was engaged with Albert Einstein and Heinrich Mann in the antifascist congress Das freie Wort [Free Speech] (Hagemann 2015, 119). [End Page 897] Unsurprisingly, Lederer was among the first to be dismissed by the Nazis from his academic position in Berlin on the basis of the Civil Service Restoration Act, which came into effect on April 7, 1933. Shortly after, the Archiv became the only leading journal in the field that was forced to cease publication. Anticipating the outcome, Lederer left Germany. In early April, he accepted the invitation of Harold Butler, the director of the International Labour Office in Paris, to prepare for future work on the pressing problem of technological unemployment. From Paris, Lederer traveled to London, where he later met Alvin Johnson, the director of the New School for Social Research in New York. Lederer had contributed work to the Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, of which Johnson had been a coeditor, and Johnson knew Lederer would be a valuable member of the refuge for outstanding German academics he sought to establish in order to preserve their lives and the rich German tradition in the social sciences they represented. In October 1933, just half a year after his exile, Lederer became full professor at and founding dean of the University in Exile at the New School in New York.1 Lederer cared deeply for the "laboring class" and was one of its most passionate advocates. To contribute to the reduction of involuntary unemployment had always been his most pressing goal, and this commitment continued in the United States. Because he did not change his economic research program after leaving Germany, it is tempting to compare his work before and after emigration. Did exile affect his intellectual work, in particular his theory of capitalist dynamics and technological unemployment? If so, how?2 The confirmation (or rejection) of an "emigration effect" on Lederer's perception of the unemployment problem is a delicate matter, particularly because he had little time to adapt—he died of thrombosis on May 29, 1939, less than six years after emigrating. Lederer's post-emigration work shows refinements and extensions made for purely analytical reasons, based on literature already available before his exile, that leave little for emigration to explain. In particular, I will discuss below how he drew on Allyn Young's celebrated 1928 [End Page 898] article, "Increasing Returns and Economic Progress," in revising Technological Progress and Unemployment (1931, second edition 1938). Rather than having an overt effect, I believe, Lederer's political exile had a limited, unidentifiable impact on his work on technological unemployment. (This conclusion differs from the analysis in Esslinger [1993], who finds that Lederer's forced migration had a significant impact on his thinking.) I find that the major differences between his pre- and post-emigration contributions are not primarily in substance. He adapted his language to address a different audience; he also shifted his focus in reaction to his critics. However, he still maintained the view of David Ricardo, from the 1817 On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, that technological unemployment is...

Ricardo’s &lt;i&gt;Principles&lt;/i&gt;, 200 Years Later

David Ricardo’s 1817 work, On the Principles of Political Economy, and Taxatio n ( Principles hereafter), is a classic in economics, and revised editions were published in 1819 and 1821. Unfortunately, all classics are ill-fated because they are often quoted but seldom read. Classics are revered and quotations from them adorn the walls of economics departments. Another way in which economics students learn about Ricardo is in the initial chapters of their textbooks, suggesting that these ideas were once-upon-a-time relevant, and that the current economics is an intellectual advance over Ricardo’s economics. It is in this way that his comparative advantage theory, growth theory, rent theory, and tax theory have been assimilated into various textbooks.

The topicality of David Ricardo’s thought (on the bicentenary of the publication ‘On the Principles of Political Economy, and Taxation’)

Motivation: On April 19, 2017 200 years had elapsed since the publication of his book, On the Principles of Political Economy, and Taxation. Using the method of abstraction, deduction, and modelling, the British stockbroker and economist — despite his lack of formal economic education — produced many original concepts that have earned him a lasting place in the history of economics. Aim: The objective of this study is to analyze the views of D. Ricardo, one of the most eminent representatives of the classical school, while the research problem is an attempt to assess their relevance. Results: It follows from a critical analysis of his views that the creators of the marginal revolution overthrew his theories of value and the theory of wages. The institutional, legal and social changes that have taken place in the capitalist economy in the past two centuries have made his theory of price-specie-flow and the theory of economic development obsolete. However, his theories of money, foreign trade and rent of land, and his methods of investigation have withstood the test of time. Controversial remains the law of market (‘Say’s law’) advocated by the classicists, and rejected by the followers of Keynesianism.

David Ricardo’s Rent Theory and Modern Times

This paper discusses the influence of «On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation» by David Ricardo on the development of the rent theory. Special attention is paid to the significance of David Ricardo’s rent theory to the modern economics.

経済原論-基礎と演習, 小幡道昭著, 東京大学出版会, 2009年

経済原論-基礎と演習, 小幡道昭著, 東京大学出版会, 2009年

RICARDO AND HIS EDITORS

This paper examines the treatment of David Ricardo's Principles of Political Economy and Taxation at the hands of its major editors since its original publication in 1817. It seeks to isolate the way in which the general nature and significance of that book has been presented by its various editors in an effort to find out how much has changed, and how much has remained the same. It shows that, with one notable exception, there is a remarkable continuity in the key dimensions of the ‘Figure of Ricardo’ that has been transmitted down the years.

Classical Economics Explained: Understanding Economic Theory Before Keynes

Since the publication of The General Theory, pre-Keynesian economics has been labelled “classical,” but what that classical economics actually consisted of is now virtually an unknown. There is, instead, a straw-man caricature most economists absorb through a form of academic osmosis but which is never specifically taught, not even as part of a course in the history of economics. The paper outlines the crucial features that differentiate modern macroeconomics from classical theory, with the emphasis on what an economist would have understood as The General Theory was being published. Based on the differences outlined, a model of classical economic theory is presented which explains how pre-Keynesian economists understood the operation of the economy, the causes of recession and why a public-spending stimulus was universally rejected by mainstream economists before 1936. The classical model presented is an amalgam of the final edition of John Stuart Mill’s 1848 Principles of Political Economy published in his lifetime and Henry Clay’s influential 1916 Economics: an Introduction for the General Reader, a text which was itself built from the economics of Mill.

The Reception of J.S. Mill’s Feminist Thought in Imperial Russia

The essay explores the publication and reception of J. S. Mill’s The Subjection of Women in Imperial Russia. Translated in 1869, the same year that the book came out in Britain, The Subjection of Women found a wide audience in Russia, attracting both feminist and conservative readers, many of whom had already been familiar with Mill’s name after the publication of his Principles of Political Economy in Russia nine years earlier. Until the end of Imperial period, the book was published in four translations and six editions, some of which were accompanied by extensive editorial introductions and followed by reviews in the leading Russian journals. The essay analyzes conservative and feminist responses to Mill’s ideas in the context of Russian intellectual and socio-political developments in the second half of the nineteenth century. It also highlights the similarities and differences in the reception of Mill’s feminist thought in Russia and in England.

An Insight into Dugald Stewart's Interest and Influence in Political Economy from a Letter to Thomas Robert Malthus, 1820

SUMMARYThis article transcripts and comments a hitherto unpublished letter from Dugald Stewart to Thomas Robert Malthus. In April 1820, Malthus published the first edition of his Principles of Political Economy and sent a copy to Stewart, who had turned away from political economy a few years previously. Our comment considers the seminal role that Stewart's teaching and writings played in the development of political economy at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It then sheds light on the reasons advanced by Stewart in his letter to Malthus to explain his turning away from political economy after 1814. We conclude that in 1820, Stewart may have felt somewhat overwhelmed in the operation of transmuting principles of political economy to new problems, and left this task to David Ricardo and Malthus, to whom he paid a tribute.