What would be the rate of wages, if labor and capital were to remain
fixed in quantity, if improvements in the mode of production were to
stop, if the consolidating of capital were to cease and if the wants of
consumers were never to alter? The question assumes, of course, that
industry shall go on, and that, notwithstanding a paralysis of the
forces of progress, wealth shall continue to be created under the
influence of a perfectly unobstructed competition. -from the Preface
John Bates Clark was the first American economist with an international
reputation-this revolutionary 1899 work is what brought him that
distinction. In clear, lucid language that makes his economic philosophy
so plain we take it for granted today, Clark lays out his Marginal
Productivity Theory of Distribution, a rebuttal to Marx and an
apologetic for capitalism. Insisting that in a competitive market
economy, all work is fully and fairly recompensed and all labor and
capital are, in a very real sense, equal components, Clark shattered
then widely held theories of economics with his groundbreaking thesis.
And his work continues to influence the global financial situation
today. American economist JOHN BATES CLARK (1847-1938), who also wrote
the significant The Philosophy of Wealth (1885), was professor of
political economy at Columbia University and one of the founders of the
American Economic Association. The prestigious John Bates Clark Medal
for economic thought is named for him.
