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Adam Smith and Malthus on high wages

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  • A M. C Waterman

Abstract

For Adam Smith, capital accumulation was necessary and sufficient for high wages. But for Malthus it is not necessary because if workers choose to delay marriage the equilibrium real wage will rise even if the economy will be stationary; it is not sufficient because land scarcity causes wages and profits to fall with accumulation in the absence of technical progress. The first qualification signals a post-Revolutionary recognition that the lower orders have it in their own power to improve their condition. The second qualification is the defining assumption of the new, ‘classical’ political economy of the English School.

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  • A M. C Waterman, 2012. "Adam Smith and Malthus on high wages," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 409-429, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:eujhet:v:19:y:2012:i:3:p:409-429
    DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2010.501110
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Winch,Donald, 2009. "Wealth and Life," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521715393.
    2. Winch,Donald, 1996. "Riches and Poverty," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521559201.
    3. Winch,Donald, 2009. "Wealth and Life," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521887533.
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    Cited by:

    1. McCloskey Deirdre Nansen, 2018. "The Two Movements in Economic Thought, 1700–2000: Empty Economic Boxes Revisited," Man and the Economy, De Gruyter, vol. 5(2), pages 1-20, December.
    2. Bruce Kaufman, 2016. "Adam Smith’s Economics and the Modern Minimum Wage Debate:The Large Distance Separating Kirkcaldy from Chicago," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 29-52, March.
    3. Erik W. Matson, 2022. "What is liberal about Adam Smith's “liberal plan”?," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 89(2), pages 593-610, October.
    4. McCloskey, Deirdre Nansen (Макклоски, Дейдра Нансен), 2016. "Measured, Unmeasured, Mismeasured, and Unjustified Pessimism: A Review Essay of Thomas Piketty’s Capitalism in the Twenty First Century [Измеренный, Безмерный, Преувеличенный И Безосновательный Пес," Ekonomicheskaya Politika / Economic Policy, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, vol. 4, pages 153-195, August.

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