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

62 ECONOMIC ESSAYS IN HONOR OF JOHN BATES CLARK 8. Ethical Forces A legal system which should protect all interests is unthinkable, no matter how much it might be developed. And where the law ends, the peculiar realm of ethical obligation begins. One of the striking developments of the present generation is the recognition of common interests and collective obligations of a moral nature, and the formulation of codes of fair practice by great numbers of trades. And many of the unwritten codes are more powerful than the written. Some of the articles of some of these codes have tremendous force; such as the unwritten article which, if violated, brings down on the violator the epithet: “scab.” Others are probably little more than words on paper. The question what these codes really are and how they operate, as well as how they need to operate to perform their social function satisfactorily — this is a fascinating inquiry with which very little has as yet been done. And it is an essential part of any survey of repre- sentative economic forces. Another question is how much the sense of right and wrong alters the bargaining force with which persons and groups strive to further their interests. To what extent will a sense of the inequity of the terms offered to labor lead the worker to submit to unemployment rather than accept? To what extent may a similar sense of a fair wage in the mind of the employer himself lead him to refrain from taking advantage of the opportunities for depressing wages which would be afforded by the unmiti- gated law of supply and demand, in time of business depression and unemployment? To what extent is a sense of inequity one of the forces back of certain varieties of restriction of output by labor? To what extent is a strike a moral phenomenen, and to what extent are the outcomes of strikes governed by moral forces? 9. Competition: Its Various Degrees Considering the central part which competition plays in economic theory, singularly little effort has been spent defining it. For static purposes, it can perhaps best be defined as whatever behavior among independent producers is necessary to bring about one price for one good in one market, at the level of “normal” expenses of production. Under actual conditions, price does not tend to an exact level on a typical market, normal expense of production is an inference rather than an observable

Access restriction

Copyright

fullscreen: Economic essays

Monograph

Chapter

Table of contents

Download

Monograph

Chapter

This page

Image fragment

Citation links

Citation recommendation