Employment and Machinery: Two Classical Debates on the Effects of Automation

See, for example, Paul Mantoux , The Industrial Revolution in the Eighteenth Century, London, 1961, pp. 226, 264, 401-6, 444; Bland, Brown and Tawney, English Economic History, London, 1914, pp. 321, 442, 544; Heckscher , Mercantilism , second edition, London, 1955, I pp. 264 f., II pp. 126-9; and cf. Ashton , The Industrial Revolution, London, 1960, pp. 154-5.

See Montesquieu , L'Esprit des Lois, in Oeuvres de Montesquieu, Paris, 1964 , p. 690; Postlethwayt , Universal Dictionary of Trade and Commerce , London, 1751, articles " Labour" and "Machine"; Josiah Tucker, Instructions for Travelers, London, 1757, pp. 20-2; Quesnay , "Hommes", in Francois Quesnay et la Physiocratie, Paris, 1958, II pp. 562-3 and n. 12; James Steuart , Principles of Political Economy, London, 1767, Book I, chapter XIX.

Adam Smith , Wealth of Nations, Modern Library edition, New York, 1937, pp. 271-2. Smith virtually ignored the issue of structural unemployment in connection with machinery.

See, e.g., Arthur Young , Political Essays concerning the Present State of the British Empire, London, 1772, pp. 215-19; Sir Frederic Morton Eden , The State of the Poor, London, 1797, I pp. 441 ff.; Lauderdale , An Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Public Wealth, Edinburgh, 1819, pp. 157-64; J.B. Say , A Treatise on Political Economy, New York, 1964, Book I, chapter VII. Malthus was against machinery on the grounds that it caused the social and moral degradation of labour in the factory system, and industrial depressions through deficient demand. See Essay on the Principle of Population, Everyman edition, London, 1960, II pp. 130-1; Principles of Political Economy, London, 1820, pp. 185, 401-13. For evidence as to labour unrest during the period see C.R. Fay , Life and Labour in the Nineteenth Century, Cambridge, 1920, pp. 23-4; G.D.H. Cole and Raymond Postgate , The Common People, London, 1938, pp. 175, 180-2, 206-9, 234, and the reference to Mantoux in note 1 above.

John Barton , Condition of the Labouring Classes of Society, Hollander reprint, Baltimore, 1934, esp. pp. 16-17.

See David Ricardo , "Principles of Political Economy and Taxation", in Works, Sraffa edition, Cambridge , 1953, I chapter XXXI, esp. p. 386; and "Notes on Malthus", in ibid., II, esp. notes (149), ( 153) and (235).

See James Mill , "Elements of Political Economy", in Selected Economic Writings, edited by Donald Winch , Edinburgh, 1966, p. 230; cf. Ricardo to Mill, 18/12/1821, in Works, loc. cit., IX, p. 127; J.R. MacCulloch , "Machinery and Accumulation", Edinburgh Review, March, 1821, pp. 108-23, and his Principles of Political Economy , London, 1870, Part II, section IV; and the correspondence between MacCulloch and Ricardo in Works, loc. cit., VIII, letters 417-18, 421-2, 424, 428-9, 431, 433-4.

See, for example, "Considerations on the East-India Trade" in MacCulloch (editor), Early English Tracts on Commerce, Cambridge, 1954, pp. 580-90; Daniel Defoe , Giving Alms No Charity, London, 1704 , pp. 18-19.

Montesquieu, loc. cit., p. 690.

Postlethwayt, loc. cit., II p. 121.

Ibid., pp. 4-5.

Ibid., p. 5.

Ibid., p. 121.

Josiah Tucker, loc. cit., p. 21.

Ibid., pp. 21-2.

Ibid., p. 22. Cf. MacCulloch , "Machinery and Accumulation", loc. cit., p. 114, where he explicitly assumes an elasticity of demand greater than one in this connection.

Quesnay, "Hommes", loc. cit., II p. 563, n. 12.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Steuart, loc. cit., I p. 119.

I bid., I pp. 120-2.

Ibid., I pp. 123-4.

Sismondi, Nouveaux Principes d'économie politique, Geneva, 1819, II pp. 324-6.

Adam Smith, loc. cit., pp. 68-74; cf. James Mill, loc. cit., p. 230, where he made the same point as Smith for which he was criticized by Ricardo.

John Barton, loc. cit., p. 16.

Ibid., p. 16.

Ibid., p. 17.

This appears to have been Ricardo's view as late as 1820, though not his reasoning. See Ricardo to MacCulloch in Works, loc. cit., VIII p. 171.

Ricardo, Works, VIII, p. 171. This paragraph has drawn heavily on Sraffa's excellent introduction to Ricardo's Principles, in ibid., I pp. 1vii-1viii.

Sraffa, introduction to Ricardo's Principles, loc. cit., p. 1x; cf. Hollander's introduction to the reprint of Barton's Condition of the Labouring Classes of Society, loc. cit., pp. 4-5, which includes the details of Mallet's claim to the responsibility for Ricardo's change of mind.

Ricardo, Principles, loc. cit., p. 388. By gross income Ricardo meant the sum of wages, profits and rent; in net income he included profits and rent only.

Ibid., pp. 388-9. Ricardo assumes an individual capitalist but implies that his argument applies to a society as a whole.

Ibid., pp. 389-90.

Ibid., p. 390.

Cf. Wicksell , Lectures on Political Economy, London, 1951, pp. 134-41; and Blaug , Economic Theory in Retrospect, London, 1964, pp. 124-5.

Malthus , Essay on the Principle of Population, loc. cit., II p. 131.

Malthus , Principles of Political Economy, loc. cit., pp. 401-4.

Ibid., p. 404. Ricardo criticized this part of Malthus' work in his "Notes on Malthus", loc. cit., notes 236-44.

MacCulloch , "The Opinion of Messrs. Say, Sismondi, and Malthus, on the Effects of Machinery and Accumulation, Stated and Examined", Edinburgh Review, XXV, March, 1821, pp. 108-23.

I bid., pp. 107-8.

Ibid., p. 112.

Ibid., pp. 106-7.

J. B. Say, loc. cit., pp. 86-8.

MacCulloch to Ricardo, 5/6/1821, in Works of Ricardo, loc. cit., VIII pp. 381-2.

Ibid., pp. 383-4.

I bid., p. 385.

Ricardo to MacCulloch, 18/6/1821, in Works, loc. cit., VIII pp. 386-90.

MacCulloch , Principles of Political Economy, loc. cit., p. 103.

See De Quincey , "Logic of Political Economy', in De Quincey's Collected Writings, Masson edition, London, 1897; James Mill , Elements, loc. cit.; J.S. Mill , Principles of Political Economy, London, 1902, Book I, chapter VI, pp. 58-63. J. S. Mill's position is a qualified defence of machinery which does not attempt a solution of the difficulties in Ricardo's chapter XXXI.

Wicksell, loc. cit., pp. 133-44; A.C. Pigou , Unemployment, London, 1913, esp. chapter II.

The broader truths in this contention fall outside the scope of this paper, since they are concerned with general, rather than with structural, unemployment.

MacCulloch , " Machinery and Accumulation", loc. cit., p. 105.