Economic essays

Bibliographic data

Monograph

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

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

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

Collection:: Economics Books

THE RELATION BETWEEN STATICS AND DYNAMICS 53 of limitation of output) in terms of the ever-present fact of unemployment rather than in terms of the theoretical tendency of supply and demand to become equal. Or, if we search for the causes of discrepancies of utility and disutility from their static standards, we are not merely led into the whole question of human nature, but into the processes by which, and the conditions under which, decisions are made: into the nature and adequacy of available alternatives and their rela- tion to the reality of competition, into the elements of compul- sion in “free” exchange, into the changing character of the human costs of industry, as affecting body, nerves, morale and social relations, into advertising and the whole system of economic guid- ance, into standardized contracts and the force of law and custom in determining the incidental terms of contracts; the whole cul- minating in a picture of the biased and imperfect character of the market as a means for the expression, furthering and protec- tion of different kinds of interests, and the need of other forms of protection than those afforded by “free” contract. From another angle, if we study “dynamic friction” we are led into the whole question of the processes of bargaining and nego- tiation, with their weapons of maneuvring and obstruction, of information and concealment, of offering and withholding, and of the effect of it all on the underlying processes of production— something which can probably never be reduced to measurement. This opens up the area explored, for instance, by Veblen in his Theory of Business Enterprise. In short, we are led into all the aspects of economic life and its essential conditioning human facts and institutions; and if not into evaluative judgments, at least into those facts and relationships on which such judgments must, if they are intelligent, be based. 4. Dynamics of Human Nature The static view of man is embodied in the marginal utility theory. This is an advance on the classical view in two respects. (1) Instead of focusing on self-interest and the reproductive instinct, it allows for all the motives of man, while remaining simple enough for deductive treatment. (2) It is an answer to the classical conclusion that price could not be a measure of utility, because coal, for example, has more utility than diamonds, but less value. As a rebuttal of this blank negative, establishing

Access restriction

Copyright

fullscreen: Economic essays

Monograph

Chapter

Table of contents

Download

Monograph

Chapter

This page

Image fragment

Citation links

Citation recommendation