Microeconomics I: Economic thoughts 09&12/10/17 🔥
econ10221@manchester.ac.uk (for tutorial absence)
economic thought
classical economics
neoclassical economics: "Economics is the science which studies human
behaviour as a relationship between ends and
scarce means which have alternative uses.“
David Ricardo
Adam Smith
Karl Marx
Robert Malthus
Natural Progression
domestic manufacturing
foreign trade
agriculture
Laissez Faire (自由放任主義) / The Invisible Hand
Value & Distribution (between social classes)
Y(total income) = W(wages) + R(rents) + S(profits)
= P x Q <value of goods produced>
Market Prices(çŸæœŸ) & Natural Prices(長期)
Ricardian Model
rate of profit equalised
an average rate of profit
Based on
Malthus on population
Smith on Labour theory value
Turgot on land rent - a residual marginal product
rent is determined by wages
labour theory of value - average socially necessary labour time
surplus value
falling rate of profit
goods / machines (embodied labour = c) / labour power (living labour)
surplus value arises
value paid to worker < value added
can buy labour power
exploitation = appropriation of surplus value (rate of exploitation = living labour unpaid = s / living labour paid = v)
competition and the rate of profit
rate of profit (r) = s / (c+v)
intensity of mechanisation (k) = c / (c+v)
average cost per chair = (c+v) / q
more wealth at more affordable prices
capitalist competition is inherently contradictory
Labour and land combine to generate output
The law of diminishing average product of labour
As more labour is used in a given production process, the average product of labour typically falls
Population expand if living standards increase
Malthusian trap - self correcting mechanism (back to subsistence)
Leon Walras
Alfred Marshall
Stanley Jevons
Labour theory of value: the value of a commodity, or the quantity of any other commodity for which it will exchange, depends on the relative quantity of labour which is necessary for its production, and not on the greater or less compensation which is paid for that labour