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Economic Theory, Applications and Issues (Working Paper N°73) ; Several contemporary economists claim that 'real' economic development only occurred following the Industrial Revolution. We contend that this is only so if a narrow view is taken of what constitutes economic development, namely increasing per capita income. Given a wider perspective, we argue that economic development occurred in hunter-gatherer societies and eventually accelerated in the second stage of the Agricultural Revolution. During this stage, a small dominant class (the elite) were able to extract rent (the economic surplus) from the mass of the population (the dominated) which they could use for development purposes. As a result of this rent extraction, the bulk of the population remained at subsistence level. Nevertheless, dissipation of the rent as a result of population increase was prevented. Consequently, the Malthusian trap could be avoided and the economic surplus could be used by the elite for development or other purposes. Whether or not economic development occurred depended on how the elite allocated the economic surplus. In the second stage of the Agricultural Revolution, the economic surplus was extracted primarily in the form of staples and the exchange of commodities was mostly directly controlled by the elite. This situation changed as states became larger in size and commodities became more diverse. In the few centuries preceding the Industrial Revolution in Europe, monarchs exerted decreasing direct control over the exchange, production and use of commodities. This was particularly noticeable in England. Also devolution of increased political power to nobles and local areas added to principal-and-agent problems. Sovereigns, instead of concentrating on the extraction of the economic surplus in the form of staples, increasingly relied on its extraction and storage in the form of treasures, precious metals and gems. Monarchs (in order to maximize their net extraction) focused on increasing the number of different markets ...

Economic Theory, Applications and Issues (Working Paper N°73) ; Several contemporary economists claim that 'real' economic development only occurred following the Industrial Revolution. We contend that this is only so if a narrow view is taken of what constitutes economic development, namely increasing per capita income. Given a wider perspective, we argue that economic development occurred in hunter-gatherer societies and eventually accelerated in the second stage of the Agricultural Revolution. During this stage, a small dominant class (the elite) were able to extract rent (the economic surplus) from the mass of the population (the dominated) which they could use for development purposes. As a result of this rent extraction, the bulk of the population remained at subsistence level. Nevertheless, dissipation of the rent as a result of population increase was prevented. Consequently, the Malthusian trap could be avoided and the economic surplus could be used by the elite for development or other purposes. Whether or not economic development occurred depended on how the elite allocated the economic surplus. In the second stage of the Agricultural Revolution, the economic surplus was extracted primarily in the form of staples and the exchange of commodities was mostly directly controlled by the elite. This situation changed as states became larger in size and commodities became more diverse. In the few centuries preceding the Industrial Revolution in Europe, monarchs exerted decreasing direct control over the exchange, production and use of commodities. This was particularly noticeable in England. Also devolution of increased political power to nobles and local areas added to principal-and-agent problems. Sovereigns, instead of concentrating on the extraction of the economic surplus in the form of staples, increasingly relied on its extraction and storage in the form of treasures, precious metals and gems. Monarchs (in order to maximize their net extraction) focused on increasing the number of different markets and the extent of these but at the same time, extracted rent from them in the form of levies. Consequently, this Age of Mercantilism was marked by a substantial expansion in marketing even though this was combined with royal imposts on markets. This increase in marketing activities helped to pave the way for the Industrial Revolution by altering the balance of political power and facilitating sales of the products of the Industrial Revolution. Despite this, it seems likely that the Industrial Revolution only happened as a result of the chance occurrence of a combination of events. It was not inevitable.

This paper provides new perspectives on the French liberal economist Jacques Rueff (1896-1978), especially as regards his early writings on unemployment. We aim to show that Rueff distinguishes the root causes of permanent unemployment in England (1919-1931) based upon an interesting reading of non-Euclidean geometry. Controversially, this enables him to locate the cause of unemployment in the stickiness of the wage/price ratio. Hence, arguing that reality remains inaccessible in itself, Rueff focuses on a succession of variables (price, wage, unemployment), supplemented by his concepts of rational ego and the reasoning machine, in order to approach this reality.

This paper provides new perspectives on the French liberal economist Jacques Rueff (1896-1978), especially as regards his early writings on unemployment. We aim to show that Rueff distinguishes the root causes of permanent unemployment in England (1919-1931) based upon an interesting reading of non-Euclidean geometry. Controversially, this enables him to locate the cause of unemployment in the stickiness of the wage/price ratio. Hence, arguing that reality remains inaccessible in itself, Rueff focuses on a succession of variables (price, wage, unemployment), supplemented by his concepts of rational ego and the reasoning machine, in order to approach this reality.

This paper provides new perspectives on the French liberal economist Jacques Rueff (1896-1978), especially as regards his early writings on unemployment. We aim to show that Rueff distinguishes the root causes of permanent unemployment in England (1919-1931) based upon an interesting reading of non-Euclidean geometry. Controversially, this enables him to locate the cause of unemployment in the stickiness of the wage/price ratio. Hence, arguing that reality remains inaccessible in itself, Rueff focuses on a succession of variables (price, wage, unemployment), supplemented by his concepts of rational ego and the reasoning machine, in order to approach this reality.

This paper provides new perspectives on the French liberal economist Jacques Rueff (1896-1978), especially as regards his early writings on unemployment. We aim to show that Rueff distinguishes the root causes of permanent unemployment in England (1919-1931) based upon an interesting reading of non-Euclidean geometry. Controversially, this enables him to locate the cause of unemployment in the stickiness of the wage/price ratio. Hence, arguing that reality remains inaccessible in itself, Rueff focuses on a succession of variables (price, wage, unemployment), supplemented by his concepts of rational ego and the reasoning machine, in order to approach this reality.

Cover -- Half Title -- Series Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Introduction to the Routledge Classics Edition -- Conceptual Preface -- Part I: Household, Clan, Village and Manor (The Agrarian Organisation) -- 1 Agrarian Organisation and the Problem of Agrarian Communism -- 2 Appropriation and Verband - The Clan -- 3 The Economic Development of Seignoral Property -- 4 Internal Development of Manorial Rule -- 5 The Situation of the Peasantry in Various Occidental Countries before the Penetration of Capitalism -- 6 The Capitalistic Development of the Manor -- Part II: Industry and Mining before the Development of Capitalism -- 7 Principal Forms of Industrial Organization -- 8 Developmental Stages of Industry and Mining -- 9 Craft Guilds -- 10 The Emergence of Occidental Guilds -- 11 The Disintegration of the Guilds and the Development of the Domestic System -- 12 Workshop Production. The Factory and its Forerunners -- 13 Mining Prior to Capitalist Development -- Part III: Commerce in Goods and Money in the Precapitalist Era -- 14 The Origins and Development of Trade -- 15 Technical Preconditions for the Carriage of Goods -- 16 The Organizational Forms of Trade and Transport -- 17 Trading and Forms of Economic Enterprise -- 18 Merchant Guilds -- 19 Money and Monetary History -- 20 Money and Banking in the Precapitalist Era -- 21 Interest in the Precapitalist Period -- Part IV: The Emergence of Modern Capitalism -- 22 The Concept and Presuppositions of Capitalism -- 23 The External Features of Capitalist Development -- 24 The First Major Speculative Crises -- 25 Free Wholesale Trade -- 26 Colonial Policy from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century -- 27 The Development of Industrial Technology -- 28 Citizenship -- 29 The Rational State -- 30 The Conditions for Capitalist Development.

In this paper, I will discuss three classic problems in economic history. I label them "classic" because they are problems of general interest that share the central characteristic of classic problems: an extensive literature has not led to general agreement. They are taken from the literature on the history of the United States because of the wealth of data and secondary material on this country's history, but they all have their analogues or reflections in European history. They are the problems of labor scarcity in America, the depression of the 1930's (which Americans call the Great Depression), and the deflation of the late nineteenth century (which the British call the Great Depression).

Cet article vise à justifier l'importance de la théorie économique pour parvenir à une interprétation appropriée de propositions d'auteurs anciens. À la lumière de la théorie classique contemporaine, nous analysons la relation ricardienne dans les Principes entre le taux de profit et l'excédent de travail. En opposition avec ce qui est généralement admis, nous montrons que cette relation se vérifie indépendamment de la théorie de la valeur travail. Ricardo découvre les limites de cette théorie et ne signale jamais que les valeurs travail sont nécessaires pour rapporter le taux de profit à l'excédent de travail. Classification JEL : B12, B24, B51, D30.