THE RELATION BETWEEN STATICS AND DYNAMICS 49 
side the limitations of statics, for an enlargement of the scope of 
our problems as well as of our data. The relation of statics to 
the scope of economic problems can be seen by a consideration of 
its origin. 
The most highly developed form of static economics, that of 
J. B. Clark, arose out of the attempt to make explicit the real 
assumptions underlying the search of the classical economists 
for “natural” levels of prices, and of their “component parts,” 
wages, rent and profits.” But this is not the one all-embracing 
problem in the classical economics. We may distinguish six 
major problems or groups of problems, arranging them roughly in 
the order of the emphasis they receive in The Wealth of 
Nations. First is the theory of national efficiency from which 
the book derives its title: the search for the most efficient system 
of organization of the production of wealth on a national scale, 
and for the policies appropriate to put this system into effect. 
Second is the search for the “natural” levels of prices, wages, rent 
and profits. (With Ricardo, this takes first place in emphasis.) 
Third comes a study of the variations of economic behavior from 
the type indicated by the “natural” levels of things. Fourth comes 
the relation of economic quantities to utility or to human well- 
being. Fifth is the question how things came to be as they are— 
here belongs Smith's “propensity to truck and barter,” and his 
discussion of the order of development of town and country 
industry. With this should probably be grouped speculations as 
to the future. And sixth comes the question of the justification 
of the underlying institutions, such as property. This is, of 
course, inseparable from the first question, but the nature of 
the connection appears to have been seen but dimly. Smith’s 
theory of national efficiency is at once a conditional justifica- 
tion of private property and free contract, and dependent for 
its validity upon the proper operation of these institutions. 
But with Smith they are taken for granted as natural rights, 
and the full nature of this problem was not realized, at least 
in this country, until it was forced on our attention by the 
evolution of these institutions, bringing visible changes in the 
content of legal rights, to meet economic needs and protect 
economic interests. In other words, this problem has little 
meaning until it takes a dynamic, rather than a static, form. 
1 J. B. Clark. Distribution of Wealth, Preface, p. vi.