IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ajecsc/v79y2020i4p1147-1180.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On the Priority of Labor Over Capital

Author

Listed:
  • Charles M. A. Clark

Abstract

In his encyclical Laborem Exercens, John Paul II asserts the principle of the priority of labor over capital. The purpose of this article is to examine this principle. The conflict between labor and capital is often noted as an essential part of capitalism. There is a long tradition of assigning more significance to labor than to capital. In fact, the classical economists argued that labor determined the “value” of a good. To understand this conflict, we must first review what is capital and its role in capitalism. We will then look at John Paul II’s assertion of the principle of labor over capital, followed by a review of how economists have understood the relationship between labor and capital. Neoclassical economists dismiss labor and capital as classes, so they believe there is no conflict. We examine one neoclassical economist’s claim of a gap in the principle of the priority of labor over capital by not including finance capital in the analysis. We demonstrate that the Church’s teachings on usury answer the objections raised. We conclude with a review of the implications of the priority of labor over capital.

Suggested Citation

  • Charles M. A. Clark, 2020. "On the Priority of Labor Over Capital," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 79(4), pages 1147-1180, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:79:y:2020:i:4:p:1147-1180
    DOI: 10.1111/ajes.12355
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ajes.12355
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ajes.12355?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mill, John Stuart, 1848. "Principles of Political Economy (II): Distribution," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, volume 2, number mill1848-2.
    2. Smith, Adam, 1776. "An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number smith1776.
    3. Mill, John Stuart, 1848. "Principles of Political Economy (III): Exchange," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, volume 3, number mill1848-3.
    4. Joan Robinson, 1953. "The Production Function and the Theory of Capital," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 21(2), pages 81-106.
    5. Ricardo, David, 1821. "On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, edition 3, number ricardo1821.
    6. Charles M. A. Clark, 2019. "Power, Subsidiarity, and the Economy of Exclusion," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 78(4), pages 923-954, September.
    7. Mill, John Stuart, 1848. "Principles of Political Economy (I): Production," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, volume 1, number mill1848-1.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jerry Kirkpatrick, 2004. "Reisman's Net Consumption, Net Investment Theory of Aggregate Profit," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(3), pages 627-646, July.
    2. Stratford, Beth, 2020. "The Threat of Rent Extraction in a Resource-constrained Future," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    3. Oscar Molina Tejerina & Luis Castro Peñarrieta, 2020. "Unexplained Wage Gaps in the Tradable and Nontradable Sectors: Cross-Sectional Evidence by Gender in Bolivia," Investigación & Desarrollo 0120, Universidad Privada Boliviana, revised Nov 2020.
    4. Philippe Steiner, 1998. "The structure of Say's economic writings," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(2), pages 227-249.
    5. Bilge Erten, 2010. "Industrial Upgrading and Export Diversification: A Comparative Analysis of Economic Policies in Turkey and Malaysia," Working Papers id:2778, eSocialSciences.
    6. Tsoulfidis, Lefteris & Alexiou, Constantinos & Parthenidis, Thanasis, 2015. "Revisiting profit persistence and the stock market in Japan," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 10-24.
    7. Damrich, Sebastian & Kealey, Terence & Ricketts, Martin, 2022. "Crowding in and crowding out within a contribution good model of research," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(1).
    8. Christopher Nobes, 2015. "Accounting for capital: the evolution of an idea," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(4), pages 413-441, June.
    9. Ron Baiman, 2010. "The Infeasibility of Free Trade in Classical Theory: Ricardo's Comparative Advantage Parable has no Solution," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(3), pages 419-437.
    10. Kuś Agnieszka, 2020. "The Importance of Innovation in the Development of Polish Business Gazelles," Journal of Management and Business Administration. Central Europe, Sciendo, vol. 28(1), pages 32-51, March.
    11. Robert Sugden, 2012. "The market as a cooperative endeavour," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 152(3), pages 365-370, September.
    12. Christopher Coyne & Abigail Hall, 2014. "The empire strikes back: Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, and the Robust Political Economy of empire," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 27(4), pages 359-385, December.
    13. Mary E. Edwards, 1984. "Site Value Taxation on Australia," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(4), pages 481-495, October.
    14. Mauro Boianovsky, 2013. "Humboldt and the economists on natural resources, institutions and underdevelopment (1752 to 1859)," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 58-88, February.
    15. Zibell, Laurent, 2011. "What's important for you in life? A general and pluralistic model of economic agents’ motivation," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 503-515.
    16. Hupfel, Simon & Missemer, Antoine, 2023. "Decommodifying wealth: Lauderdale and ecological economics beyond the Lauderdale paradox," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    17. Peter Temin, 2015. "The Cambridge History of "Capitalism"," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 53(4), pages 996-1016, December.
    18. Simone Pellegrino & Guido Perboli & Giovanni Squillero, 2019. "Balancing the equity-efficiency trade-off in personal income taxation: an evolutionary approach," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 36(1), pages 37-64, April.
    19. McCloskey Deirdre Nansen, 2018. "The Two Movements in Economic Thought, 1700–2000: Empty Economic Boxes Revisited," Man and the Economy, De Gruyter, vol. 5(2), pages 1-20, December.
    20. Eloi Laurent & Jacques Le Cacheux, 2006. "Integrity and Efficiency in the EU: The Case against the European economic constitution," Working Papers hal-00972707, HAL.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:79:y:2020:i:4:p:1147-1180. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0002-9246 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.