IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/20118.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The competition-of-capitals doctrine and the wage-profit relationship

Author

Listed:
  • Meacci, Ferdinando

Abstract

The wage-profit relationship is usually linked up with Ricardo and his notion of “proportional wages” (Principles, Chapters I, VI and passim). This relationship is based on Ricardo’s theory of value and supports his diminishing-returns-to-agriculture theory of the falling rate of profit. A wage-profit relationship, however, exists also in the Wealth of Nations (Book I, Chapter IX and passim). Here it is related to the alternative competition-of-capitals theory of the falling rate of profit which in turn is based on Smith’s different theory of value. The purpose of this chapter is to reconstruct Smith's competition-of-capitals doctrine. This reconstruction, however, is not intended to provide a faithful assembly of what Smith actually wrote or a 'rational' view of what he must have thought in this connection. Rather, it is to extract from his faulty exposition and with the benefit of hindsight what is necessary to make Smith's doctrine consistent with his system of thought and vision of the future in order to determine whether, or to what extent,Ricardo's dissatisfaction is justified. This reconstruction will be based on the fragmentary statements by which the doctrine is presented in the Wealth of Nations and will try to highlight not only some of the ambiguities incorporated in these statements but also the links between these statements and other crucial parts of Smith's system of thought. This purpose will be achieved by considering the Malthus-Ricardo disputes on the falling rate of profit as well as their relevance for understanding the impact of growth on wages and profits in past and modern economies.

Suggested Citation

  • Meacci, Ferdinando, 2004. "The competition-of-capitals doctrine and the wage-profit relationship," MPRA Paper 20118, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2006.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:20118
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/20118/1/MPRA_paper_20118.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/20124/1/MPRA_paper_20124.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jevons, William Stanley, 1866. "Brief Account of a General Mathematical Theory of Political Economy," History of Economic Thought Articles, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, vol. 29, pages 282-287.
    2. Peach,Terry, 1993. "Interpreting Ricardo," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521260862, January.
    3. Pierangelo Garegnani, 2024. "The Classical Theory of Wages and the Role of Demand Schedules in the Determination of Relative Prices," Springer Studies in the History of Economic Thought, in: Roberto Ciccone (ed.), Capital Theory, the Surplus Approach, and Effective Demand, pages 297-303, Springer.
    4. Jevons, William Stanley, 1871. "The Theory of Political Economy," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number jevons1871.
    5. Garegnani, Pierangelo, 1984. "Piero Sraffa," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 8(1), pages 1-2, March.
    6. Garegnani, P, 1982. "On Hollander's Interpretation of Ricardo's Early Theory of Profits," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 6(1), pages 65-77, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Meacci, Ferdinando, 2013. "Say's Law," MPRA Paper 55495, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Mar 2014.
    2. Ferdinando Meacci, 2009. "Different employment of capitals in vertically integrated sectors: Smith after the Austrians," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 22(4), pages 333-348, December.
    3. Meacci, Ferdinando, 2011. "From bounties on exportation to the natural and market price of labour: Smith versus Ricardo," MPRA Paper 31153, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Meacci, Ferdinando, 2010. "On Smith's ambiguities on value and wealth," MPRA Paper 28866, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Meacci, Ferdinando, 1997. "On Working and Circulating Capital," MPRA Paper 11763, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 23 Dec 2008.
    2. Neri Salvadori & Rodolfo Signorino, 2016. "Competition," Chapters, in: Gilbert Faccarello & Heinz D. Kurz (ed.), Handbook on the History of Economic Analysis Volume III, chapter 6, pages 70-81, Edward Elgar Publishing.
      • Salvadori, Neri & Signorino, Rodolfo, 2011. "Competition," MPRA Paper 38387, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Meacci, Ferdinando, 2014. "Ricardo's and Malthus's common error in their conflicting theories of the value of labour," MPRA Paper 55948, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Matschke Manfred Jürgen & Brösel Gerrit & Matschke Xenia, 2010. "Fundamentals of Functional Business Valuation," Journal of Business Valuation and Economic Loss Analysis, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 1-41, November.
    5. Sergio Nistico & Giorgio Rodano, 2005. "Reflections on Sraffa's Legacy in Economics: A review essay," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 471-487.
    6. Duccio Cavalieri, 2009. "Sull'inseparabilit? delle strutture sintattiche nell'analisi classica del valore e della distribuzione," STUDI ECONOMICI, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 0(97), pages 5-46.
    7. Madarász, Aladár, 2018. "A "túl elméleti" tőzsdeügynök: David Ricardo és az Alapelvek kétszáz éve ["Too theoretical" a stockjobber: 200 years of David Ricardo and his principles]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(5), pages 449-483.
    8. Gary Mongiovi, 2021. "Pierangelo Garegnani and the revival of the ‘submerged and forgotten’ surplus approach," Bulletin of Political Economy, Bulletin of Political Economy, vol. 15(2), pages 163-184, December.
    9. repec:drm:wpaper:2013-39 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Antoinette Baujard, 2016. "Utilitarianism and anti-utilitarianism," Chapters, in: Gilbert Faccarello & Heinz D. Kurz (ed.), Handbook on the History of Economic Analysis Volume III, chapter 40, pages 576-588, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Böckers, Veit & Heimeshoff, Ulrich, 2014. "The extent of European power markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 102-111.
    12. Bellino, Enrico & Nerozzi, Sebastiano, 2013. "Causality and interdependence in Pasinetti's works and in the modern classical approach," MPRA Paper 52179, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Amir, Shmuel, 1995. "Welfare maximization in economic theory: Another viewpoint," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 359-376, August.
    14. Edwards, Brian K. & Howitt, Richard E. & Flaim, Silvio J., 1996. "Fuel, crop, and water substitution in irrigated agriculture," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 311-331, October.
    15. Petersen, Verner C., 2005. "The otherworldly view of economics - and its consequences," Working Papers 2005-13, University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business, Department of Management.
    16. Fabio Ravagnani, 2008. "Classical Theory and Exhaustible Natural Resources: Notes on the Current Debate," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 79-93.
    17. Laczó, Ferenc, 2023. "Adalékok az inflációs folyamatok jobb megértéséhez [Additions to a better understanding of inflationary processes]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(6), pages 613-646.
    18. J. Barkley Rosser, 2020. "Austrian themes and the Cambridge capital theory controversies," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 415-431, December.
    19. Böheim, René & Hackl, Franz & Hölzl-Leitner, Michael, 2021. "The impact of price adjustment costs on price dispersion in e-commerce," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    20. Daniel McFadden, 2014. "The new science of pleasure: consumer choice behavior and the measurement of well-being," Chapters, in: Stephane Hess & Andrew Daly (ed.), Handbook of Choice Modelling, chapter 2, pages 7-48, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    21. Maria Cristina Marcuzzo & Annalisa Rosselli, 1994. "Ricardo's Theory of Money Matters," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 45(5), pages 1251-1268.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Competition of capitals; wage-profit relationship; Smith and Ricardo;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • B12 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Classical (includes Adam Smith)
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:20118. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.