Annals of the Society for the History of Economic Thought

Ricardo proposed concerning the revision of the corn laws in 1822 that a fixed duty of ten shillings per quarter should be imposed on importation of wheat finally. But his proposal means a countervailing duty for the peculiar taxes which are imposed on the corn growers, over those which are imposed on the other classes of producers in the country.
Now, Malthus asserted in 1826 that a duty on importation not too high, and a bounty on exportation nearly such as was recommended by Ricardo, would probably be best suited to the present situation. Though his opinion resembled Ricardo's proposal in appearance, yet the duty proposed by Malthus did not mean a countervailing duty.
Malthus supported the protection to agriculture by adopting the policy of restricting the importation of corn. Since 1814, however, he has had misgivings about very high duties, operating alone, are peculiarly liable to occasion great fluctuations of prices. And then, he proposed a duty not too high as well as a moderate bounty, with a view to prevent the great fall of prices that might be occasioned by a glut.

View full abstract

Show abstractHide abstract

This article on British economic thought during the period from the late 1790's to early 1830's has two aims. The first is to investigate Malthus' economic thought in the context of the theology and his Whig inclinations. The second is to reveal the diversities in the understanding of ‘commercial society’ among his contemporaries.
To begin with the latter point, the Edinburgh Review played an important role as the conveyer of the idea of the art of government and the analysis of ‘commercial society’ from the eighteenth-century Scottish tradition to the nineteenth-century British economic arguments. In this context, when Ricardo's Principles was published, McCulloch considered it not as the subsitution but as the compensation for Smith's Wealth of Nations. But in the decade of 1820's there were several points severely debated; for example, whether to accept the idea of the ‘conjectural history’, how to evaluate the result of the industrialization, and what kind of the position to be selected on the problem on Parliamentary Reform.
In comparison with these arguments, Malthus' position is able to be characterized as that of medium. In some cases, Malthus judged on the political or economic problem not from the maximum of wealth but from that of happiness or safety. So, for Malthus, the concept of ‘proportions’ has the especial importance to the economic reasoning.

View full abstract

Download PDF (1386K)

In this paper I consider some problems about non economic interests of David Ricardo that appear in his unpublished letter to Lady Mary Shepherd. Lady Mary is a minor figure in the history of economics. She was not an economist but a member of so called “bluestocking.” David Ricardo acquainted with her already in 1812, when they had an opportunity to discuss some academic or scientific topics, particularly astronomical problems.
Ricardo wrote a letter to her on 6th Oct. 1819. The letter informed us now that he received an extract from a book by P. S. Laplace, French astronomer, from Lady Mary. He criticized Laplace's calculation of the precession of equinox from view point that it is necessary to distinguish the general outlook of universe from the observation.

View full abstract

As a young man Carl Menger worked as a journalist over a ten year period. Basing itself on the memorandum in his diary, this paper first gives an overview of his journalistic activity and tries to locate it in the Viennese politics of his day. Menger's later recollection that he discovered marginal utility theory through his experience of writing market reports for a Viennese paper is examined. Menger's theory originally emerged as the individualistic counterpart of price determination in the market. Menger's liberalism, as well as his rich experience in journalism, attracted the interest of his pupil, Crown Prince Rudolf. Rudolf's tragic death was a fatal blow to his teacher who had still hoped something could be accomplished by liberal initiatives from above.

View full abstract

Register with J-STAGE for free!