Economic essays

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Identifikator:: 1753623200

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-136107

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Economic essays

Place of publication:: New York

Publisher:: Macmillan

Year of publication:: 1927

Scope:: viii, 368 S.; Ill., graph. Darst.

Digitisation:: 2021

Collection:: Economics Books

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Document type:: Monograph

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Title:: The relation between statics and dynamics / John Maurice Clark

Collection:: Economics Books

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.

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