1820 Principles of Political Economy

Description

First Edition, Original Binding

The first edition.

'Principles of Political Economy' is now regarded as a very influential study on economics, in which the author explains the historical economic depression in Europe, and why they occur.

The work rejects the idea of Say's law and Ricardo's 1817 Principles of Political Economy and Taxation generally. Malthus argued that any rise in wages above the subsistence level would encourage population growth, which in turn would drive wages back down to subsistence—a dynamic often referred to as the "Malthusian trap." 

By the economist, scholar, and cleric, Thomas Robert Malthus. He published this work to rival David Ricardo's 1817 work 'Principles of Political Economy and Taxation'.

"The Principles had only a limited impact at the time, and was severely criticized by J. R. McCulloch and Ricardo; the latter prepared extensive critical notes. But more recently it has received greater recognition, largely as a result of the comments by J. M. Keynes in the 1930s. Keynes argued that Malthus's theory of effective demand provided a scientific explanation of unemployment, and that the hundred-year domination of Ricardo over Malthus had been a disaster for the progress of economics. Keynes believed that if economics had followed Malthus instead of being constrained by Ricardo in an artificial groove, the world would be a much wiser and richer place" (DNB)

Very rarely seen eight pages of adverts to the rear, dated April 1820.