Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-wp2c8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-01T21:46:56.588Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

FIXED CAPITAL IN AGRICULTURE: RICHARD JONES’S CRITIQUE OF RICARDO’S THEORY OF RENT

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2015

Christian Gehrke
Christian Gehrke*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Graz and Graz Schumpeter Centre, Resowi-Centre F 4, A 8010 Graz, Austria. Email: christian.gehrke@uni-graz.at.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Richard Jones’s 1831 critique of David Ricardo’s theory of rent is generally viewed as ill-founded. The present paper shows that Jones’s Essay on the Distribution of Wealth contains an important analytical insight: Jones noticed that Ricardo’s treatment of agricultural improvements was seriously incomplete, because it failed to accommodate the historically important case of agricultural improvements that involve the use of fixed capital. More generally, it is suggested that Jones was correct in pointing out that Ricardo had not properly taken into account fixed capital in his analysis of rent and of agricultural improvements.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 37 , Issue 3 , September 2015 , pp. 411 - 430
Copyright
Copyright © The History of Economics Society 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Böhm-Bawerk, Eugen von. [1884] 1921. Kapital und Kapitalzins. Erste Abteilung. Geschichte und Kritik der Kapitalzins-Theorien. Innsbruck. Fourth edition. Jena: Gustav Fischer.Google Scholar
Brems, Hans. 1970. “Ricardo’s Long-run Equilibrium.” History of Political Economy 2 (2): 419–431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campanelli, Guiliana. 1982. “W. Whewell’s Contribution to Economic Analysis: The First Mathematical Formulation of Fixed Capital in Ricardo’s System.” The Manchester School 50: 248–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campanelli, Guiliana. 1998. “Early Mathematical Formulations in English-speaking Countries.” In Kurz, Heinz D. and Salvadori, Neri, eds., The Elgar Companion to Classical Economics. Volume I. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 235–240.Google Scholar
Cannan, Edwin. [1893] 1967. A History of the Theories of Production and Distribution in English Political Economy from 1776 to 1848. New York: A. M. Kelley.Google Scholar
Cochrane, James L. 1970. “The First Mathematical Ricardian Model.” History of Political Economy 2 (2): 419–431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cochrane, James L. 1975. “William Whewell’s Mathematical Statements.” The Manchester School 43: 396–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Creedy, John. 1989. “Whewell’s 'Translation' of J. S. Mill.” Scottish Journal of Political Economy 36: 266–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edgeworth, Francis Ysidro. 1894. “Entry ‘Richard Jones’.” In Harry Inglis Palgrave, Robert, ed., Palgrave’s Dictionary of Political Economy. Volume II. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Gehrke, Christian. 2003. “The Ricardo Effect: Its Meaning and Validity.” Economica 70: 143–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gehrke, Christian, and Kurz, Heinz D.. 2003. “On Some Criticisms of Ricardo’s Discussion of Agricultural Improvements.” In Argyrous, George, Forstater, Mathew, and Mongiovi, Gary, eds., Growth, Distribution and Effective Demand: Essays in Honor of Edward J. Nell. New York: M. E. Sharpe, pp. 327–345.Google Scholar
Gehrke, Christian, Kurz, Heinz D., and Salvadori, Neri. 2003. “Ricardo on Agricultural Improvements: A Note.” Scottish Journal of Political Economy 50: 291–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henderson, James P. 1985. “The Whewell Group of Mathematical Economists.” The Manchester School 53: 404–431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henderson, James P. 1996. Early Mathematical Economics. William Whewell and the British Case. Lanham, Boulder, New York, London: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Jones, Richard. [1831] 1964. An Essay on the Distribution of Wealth, and on the Sources of Taxation. Part I. Rent. New York: A. M. Kelley.Google Scholar
Maas, Harro. 2004. “Entry ‘Richard Jones’.” In Rutherford, Donald, ed., Biographical Dictionary of British Economists. Volume 1. Bristol: Thoemmes Press, pp. 613–617.Google Scholar
Marshall, Alfred. 1897. “The Old Economists and the New.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 11: 115–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marx, Karl. [1861–63] 1991. Economic Manuscript of 1861–63. A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy [“Theories of Surplus Value”]. In Karl Marx, Frederick Engels: Collected Works. Volume 33. New York: International Publishers.Google Scholar
Mill, John Stuart. [1848] 1965. Principles of Political Economy with Some of their Applications to Social Philosophy. In Collected Works of John Stuart Mill. Volume 2. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Mill, John Stuart. 1972. The Later Letters. In Collected Works of John Stuart Mill. Volume 15. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Miller, William L. 1977. “Richard Jones’s Contribution to the Theory of Rent.” History of Political Economy 9: 346–365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rashid, Salim. 1977. “William Whewell and Early Mathematical Economics.” The Manchester School 45: 381–391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ricardo, David. 1951–73. The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo. Edited by Piero Sraffa with the collaboration of Maurice H. Dobb. Eleven volumes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Cited as Works I–XI.)Google Scholar
Schumpeter, Joseph Alois. 1954. History of Economic Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Theocharis, Reginos D. 1993. The Development of Mathematical Economics. London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, T. Perronet. 1826. The True Theory of Rent, in Opposition to Mr. Ricardo and Others, of Fallacies on Rent, Tithes, etc. London: Effingham Wilson.Google Scholar
Whewell, William. [1859] 1964. “Prefatory Notice.” In Jones, Richard, Literary Remains consisting of Lectures and Tracts on Political Economy of the late Rev. Richard Jones. Edited with a Prefatory Notice by the Rev. William Whewell. New York: A. M. Kelley.Google Scholar
Whewell, William. [1862] 1967. Six Lectures on Political Economy. New York: A. M. Kelley.Google Scholar
Whewell, William. [1829] 1971a. “Mathematical Exposition of some Doctrines of Political Economy.” Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 3 (1): 192–230. Reprinted in William Whewell, Mathematical Exposition of Some Doctrines of Political Economy, New York: A. M. Kelley, 1971.Google Scholar
Whewell, William. [1831] 1971b. “Mathematical Exposition of Some of the Leading Doctrines in Mr Ricardo’s ‘Principles of Political Economy and Taxation’.” Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 4 (1): 155–198. Reprinted in William Whewell, Mathematical Exposition of Some Doctrines of Political Economy, New York: A. M. Kelley, 1971.Google Scholar