Title page from The Wages Question: A Treatise on Wages and the Wages Class

The Wages Question: A Treatise on Wages and the Wages Class

Francis A. Walker’s The Wages Question is generally credited as having demolished the prior, antiquated “wages fund” theory of wages. Walker laid the groundwork for John Bates Clark’s definitive descriptions of the marginal products of labor and capital. His interest in the nature of the firm contributed to Frank H. Knight’s work by describing the factors of production and how to categorize their rewards into wages, rent, and profits.