The Online Library of Liberty

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• Preface.
• Definitions In Political Economy.
• Chapter I.: Rules For the Definition and Application of Terms In Political Economy.
• Chapter II.: On the Definition of Wealth By the French Economists.
• Chapter III.: On the Definition and Application of Terms By Adam Smith.
• Chapter IV.: Application of the Term Utility By M. Say.
• Chapter V.: On the Definition and Application of Terms By Mr. Ricardo.
• Chapter VI.: On the Definition and Application of Terms By Mr. Mill, In His “elements of Political Economy.”
• Chapter VII.: On the Definition and Application of Terms, By Mr. Macculloch, In His “principles of Political Economy.”
• Chapter VIII.: On the Definition and Use of Terms By the Author of “a Critical Dissertation On the Nature, Measure, and Causes of Value.”
• Chapter IX.: Summary of the Reasons For Adopting the Subjoined Definition of the Measure of Value.
• Chapter X.: Definitions In Political Economy.
• Wealth.
• Utility.
• Value,
• Value In Use,
• Value, Or Value In Exchange.
• Production.
• Product, Produce.
• Sources of Wealth.
• Land.
• Labour.
• Productive Labour.
• Unproductive Labour.
• Industry.
• Stock.
• Capital.
• Fixed Capital.
• Circulating Capital.
• Revenue.
• Accumulation of Capital.
• Saving,
• Rent of Land.
• Money-rent of Land.
• Gross Surplus of the Land.
• Wages of Labour.
• Nominal Wages.
• Real Wages.
• The Rate of Wages.
• The Price of Labour,
• The Amount of Wages.
• The Price of Effective Labour.
• Accumulated Labour.
• Profits of Stock.
• The Rate of Profits.
• The Interest of Money.
• The Profits of Industry, Skill, and Enterprise.
• Monopoly Profits.
• Conditions of the Supply of Commodities.
• Elementary Costs of Production.
• Measure of the Conditions of the Supply, Or of the Elementary Costs of Production.
• The Value, Market Value, Or Actual Value, of a Commodity At Any Place Or Time.
• The Natural Value of a Commodity At Any Place and Time.
• Measure of the Market Or Actual Value of a Commodity At Any Place Or Time.
• Measure of the Natural Value of a Commodity At Any Place and Time.
• The Price, the Market Price, Or Actual Price of a Commodity At Any Place and Time.
• The Natural Price of a Commodity At Any Place and Time.
• Supply of Commodities.
• Demand For Commodities,
• Demand In Regard to Its Extent.
• Demand In Regard to Its Intensity.
• Effectual Demand, In Regard to Its Extent.
• Effectual Demand, In Regard to Its Intensity.
• Measure of the Intensity of the Effectual Demand.
• Excess of the Demand Above the Supply.
• Excess of the Supply Above the Demand, Or Partial Glut.
• General Glut.
• A Given Demand.
• Variations of Prices and Values.
• Consumption.
• Productive Consumption.
• Unproductive Consumption, Or Spending.
• Chapter XI.: Observations On the Definitions.

Chapter II.

ON THE DEFINITION OF WEALTH BY THE FRENCH ECONOMISTS.

It will not be worth while to advert to the misnomers of the mercantile system; but the system of the French Economists was a scientific one, and aimed at precision. Yet it must be acknowledged that their definition of wealth violated the first and most obvious rule which ought to guide men of science, as well as others, in the use of terms. Wealth and riches are words in the commonest use; and though all persons might not be able at once to describe with accuracy what they mean when they speak of the wealth of a country, yet all, we believe, who intend to use the term in its ordinary sense, would agree in saying that they do not confine the term either to the gross raw produce, or the neat raw produce of such country. And it is quite certain that two countries, with both the same gross raw produce, and the same neat raw produce, might differ most essentially from each other in a great number of the most universally acknowledged characteristics of wealth, such as good houses, good furniture, good clothes, good carriages, which, in the one case, might be possessed only by a few great landlords, and a small number of manufacturers and merchants; and in the other case, by an equal, or greater proportion of landlords, and a much greater number of manufacturers and merchants. This difference might take place without any difference in the amount of the raw produce, the neat produce, or the population, merely by the conversion of idle retainers and menial servants into active artisans and traders. The result, therefore, of comparing together the wealth of different countries, according to the sense of that term adopted by the Economists, and according to the sense in which it is generally understood in society, would be totally different. And this circumstance detracts in a very great degree from the practical utility of the works of the Economists.