The Physiology Of Industry Being An Exposure Of Certain Fallacies In Existing Theories Of Economics 1889 PDF Download

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1889 edition. Excerpt: ... and by excluding what is necessary, restore the term to its most convenient economic use. Since both convenience of economic treatment and common usage exclude labour-power from capital, it is clear that it must be excluded. Since commodities consumed by producers only affect production indirectly, through their effect on labour-power, they must also be excluded. The case of land and other natural agents is rather different. It should be remarked that none of the economic definitions of capital have succeeded in excluding the value of land. For not only is land in large measure 'destined' to assist the production of wealth, but its value is, in fact, 'the result of past labour.' Not only does this last statement apply to the value put into land by landlords' or tenants' improvements, but also to the value created by the growth and activity of the community which forms what is now commonly known as the 'unearned increment.' Thus the whole value of land, alike that for which economic rent is paid and that which gets the average return of profit on capital invested, is the result of the work either of individuals or of the whole community, and may be said to be 'saved' or stored to assist future production. But while no definition can of right banish land value from capital, expediency may and does demand that it be treated separately, at least so far as that value not due to recent improvements is concerned. In so far as land and other natural agents stand distinct from the body of capital, and it is found convenient to treat them separately, in economic theory as in the actual calculations of commerce, we shall exclude them from our meaning B of capital. We are now in a position to sum up the kinds of wealth which it is convenient to...