IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jpolec/v96y1988i2p274-82.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mathematical Vindication of Ricardo on Machinery

Author

Listed:
  • Samuelson, Paul A

Abstract

Ricardo is shown to be right that machinery can hurt wages and reduce output. A dramatic robot example reveals Knut Wicksell's erro r in believing that Pareto optimality calls for no drop in total outp ut from a viable invention. Under Ricardo's axiom that labor supply a djusts to keep wages at the subsistence level, he can correctly deduc e on a market-clearing basis a rise in his net product (rent plus int erest), while the greater drop in population and total wages results in a reduction in his gross product (rent plus interest plus wages). Copyright 1988 by University of Chicago Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Samuelson, Paul A, 1988. "Mathematical Vindication of Ricardo on Machinery," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(2), pages 274-282, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jpolec:v:96:y:1988:i:2:p:274-82
    DOI: 10.1086/261536
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/261536
    File Function: full text
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers. See http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JPE for details.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/261536?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marco Capasso & Tania Treibich & Bart Verspagen, 2015. "The medium-term effect of R&D on firm growth," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 39-62, June.
    2. Boerner, Lars & Severgnini, Battista, 2015. "Time for growth," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 64495, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2017. "The employment impact of R&D expenditures and capital formation," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Politica Economica ispe0078, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    4. Miguel Morin, 2015. "The Labor Market Consequences of Electricity Adoption: Concrete Evidence from the Great Depression," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1554, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    5. Thomas M. Humphrey, 2004. "Ricardo versus Wicksell on job losses and technological change," Economic Quarterly, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, vol. 90(Fall), pages 5-24.
    6. Andre V. Mollick & Joao R. Faria, 2010. "Capital and labor in thelong-run: evidence fromTobin's q for the US," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 11-14, January.
    7. Geiger, Niels & Prettner, Klaus & Schwarzer, Johannes A., 2018. "Automatisierung, Wachstum und Ungleichheit," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 13-2018, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    8. Takashi Uchiyama, 2000. "Ricardo on machinery: a dynamic analysis," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 208-227.
    9. Piva, Mariacristina & Vivarelli, Marco, 2017. "Technological Change and Employment: Were Ricardo and Marx Right?," IZA Discussion Papers 10471, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Peter Sinclair, 2016. "Ezra Mishan, Contrarian And Sage: An Appreciation," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 61(03), pages 1-9, June.
    11. Meacci, Ferdinando, 2008. "Machinery Question," MPRA Paper 11696, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Freni, Giuseppe & Salvadori, Neri, 2016. "Ricardo on Machinery: A Textual Analysis," MPRA Paper 73427, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Joao Ricardo Faria & Miguel Leon-Ledesma & Adolfo Sachsida, 2006. "Population and income: Is there a puzzle?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(6), pages 909-917.

    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:ucp:jpolec:v:96:y:1988:i:2:p:274-82. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Journals Division (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JPE .

    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.