The Character And Logical Method Of Political Economy

The work on the “Character and Logical Method of Political Economy” may be recommended to students as a safe guide to help them through the mazy labyrinths which the earlier stages of the study present. The purpose of the work is to ascertain the true relation of Political Economy to the Physical Sciences on the one hand, and to the Moral Sciences on the other, both as regards method and compass. The supporters and opponents of Political Economy have each done it injustice by misapprehending its aims and limits. The study, as Professor Cairnes points out and explains with inimitable clearness, does not consist in an investigation into the causes of physical facts or the evolution of psychological processes. Political Economy begins at the point at which physical science and psychological science each end.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.

Excerpt from Character and Logical Method of Political Economy It falls to me once again to have to express my deep obligations to my friend Professor Nesbitt, who, with his usual kindness in correcting the proofs, has not a little lightened my present labors. J, E. Cairnes. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1875 edition. Excerpt: ... lecture viii. of the theory of rent. 1. Of those principles of Political Economy which have of late years been made the subject of controversy amongst economists, one of the most fundamental and important is the theory of rent, generally designated from the name of its ablest expounder, Mr. Eicardo. Mr. Richards of Oxford, some of whose objections to the doctrine of population, as taught by Malthus, I considered in my last lecture, is also an opponent of Ricardo's theory of rent. In the sixth lecture of his work on Population and Capital he remarks upon the close relation which exists between these two doctrines. "The arguments for both," he says, "rest on one and the same hypothesis" "The same assumption--that of the diminishing productiveness of the land as compared with the undiminished power of human fecundity--forms the basis " of both theories. Substantially I take this to be a correct statement of the case, and I am quite prepared to stake the truth of the doctrines in question upon the issue thus set forth. But, before adverting further to Mr. Kickards' objections, it will be desirable first to understand what the doctrine of rent is, as well as its proper limitations. The object of a theory of rent is to explain the fact of rent, and the conditions which determine its rise and fall. In order, therefore, to judge of the theory, we must form a clear and definite idea of the fact of which it is designed to afford the explanation. The fact, then, which the theory of rent is adduced to explain is the existence in certain branches of industry of a permanent surplus value in the product, beyond what is sufficient to replace the capital employed in production, together with the usual profits which happen to prevail in the...