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The Organic Composition of Capital and Technological Unemployment: Marx's and Ricardo's Intellectual Debt to John Barton and George Ramsay

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  • Miguel D. Ramirez

    (Department of Economics, Trinity College)

Abstract

This paper contends that Marx’s views on constant (fixed) and variable (circulating) capital, the impact of machinery on the working class, and his conception of how the accumulation of capital gives rise to a relative diminution in the demand for labor were strongly influenced by the works of English economists John Barton and George Ramsay. With a few notable exceptions, Marx’s intellectual debt to classical economists John Barton and George Ramsay has been practically neglected in the extant literature. Next, the paper highlights the important influence of Barton’s work on Ricardo’s discussion of the effects of the accumulation of fixed capital on the condition of the working class. Finally, the paper delves into Marx’s theory of technological unemployment (surplus population) and its main components. Again, the textual evidence strongly suggests that Marx was strongly influenced by the writings of all three classical economists on this topic, but Ramsay seems to have influenced Marx’s conception of one of the three major components of the surplus population, viz. the latent component.

Suggested Citation

  • Miguel D. Ramirez, 2018. "The Organic Composition of Capital and Technological Unemployment: Marx's and Ricardo's Intellectual Debt to John Barton and George Ramsay," Working Papers 1708, Trinity College, Department of Economics, revised Aug 2020.
  • Handle: RePEc:tri:wpaper:1708
    as

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    File URL: http://www3.trincoll.edu/repec/WorkingPapers2018/WP17-08.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Paul Mosley & Steve Wiggins & Kerry Preibisch & Sharon Proctor, 1999. "The impact of agricultural policy liberalization on rural communities in Mexico," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(7), pages 1029-1042.
    2. Miguel D. Ramirez, 2012. "Is the Falling Rate of Profit the Driving Force Behind Globalization?," Contributions to Political Economy, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 31(1), pages 91-102.
    3. Heinz Kurz, 2010. "Technical progress, capital accumulation and income distribution in Classical economics: Adam Smith, David Ricardo and Karl Marx," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(5), pages 1183-1222.
    4. Brewer,Anthony, 1984. "A Guide to Marx's 'Capital'," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521276764, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Capital; constant vs. variable capital; organic composition of capital; reserve army of the unemployed.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B10 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - General
    • B12 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Classical (includes Adam Smith)
    • B14 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Socialist; Marxist

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