登陆注册
5419100000036

第36章 The Wage-Fund Theory(2)

So far I have been speaking of the theory as applied to wages at a particular time.Now,what did it further imply of wages in the long-run?According to Ricardo's law,which has been adopted by Lassalle and the Socialists,wages depend on the ratio between population and capital.Capital may be gradually increased by saving,and population may be gradually diminished;but Ricardo thought that the condition of the labourer was surely on the decline,because population was advancing faster than capital.

While admitting occasionally that there had been changes in the standard of comfort,he yet disregarded these in his general theory,and assumed that the standard was fixed;that an increase of wages would lead to an increase of population,and that wages would thus fall again to their old rate,or even lower.The amount of corn consumed by the labourer would not diminish,but that of all other commodities would decline.Later economists have qualified this statement of the supposed law.Mill showed that the standard of comfort was not fixed,but might vary indefinitely.This being the case,the labourer might sink even lower than Ricardo supposed possible,for population might increase till the labourer had not only less of everything else,but was forced down to a lower staple of life than corn,for instance,potatoes.And this has,as a matter of fact,taken place in some countries.But,on the other hand,the standard might rise,as it has risen in England;and Mill thought that it would rise yet more.At first this was his only hope for the working classes.At a later period he trusted that the labourer,by means of co-operation,might become more and more self-employing,and so obtain both profits and wages.

It is interesting to inquire how this wage-fund theory grew up.Why was it held that employers could not give higher real wages?Its origin is easy to understand.When Malthus wrote his essay on population,there had been a series of bad harvests,and in those days but small supplies of corn could be obtained from abroad.Thus year after year there seemed to be a fixed quantity of food in the country and increasing numbers requiring food.

Population was growing faster than subsistence,and increased money wages could not increase the quantity of food that was to be had.Thus in 1800,when corn was l27s.the quarter,it was clear that the rich could not help the poor by giving them higher wages,for this would simply have raised the price of the fixed quantity of corn.Malthus assumed that the amount of food was practically fixed;therefore,unless population diminished,as years went on,wages would fall,because worse soils would be cultivated and there would be increased difficulty in obtaining food.But the period he had before his eyes was quite exceptional;after the peace,good harvests came and plenty of corn;food grew cheaper,though population advanced at the same rate.So that the theory in this shape was true only of the twenty years from 1795 to 1815.But,when it had once been said that wages depended on the proportion between population and food,it was easy to substitute capital for food and say that they depended on the proportion between population and capital,food and capital being wrongly identified.Then when the identification was forgotten,it was supposed that there is at any given moment a fixed quantity of wage-capital-food,boots,hats,furniture,clothes,etc.-destined for the payment of wages,which neither employers nor workmen can diminish or increase,and thus the rate of wages came to be regarded as regulated by a natural law,independent of the will of either party.

We have already seen that this theory is false;we have now to substitute for it some truer theory,and explain thereby the actual phenomena of the labour market,such,for instance,as the fact that wages at Chicago or New York are twice as high as they are in England,while the prices of the necessaries of life are lower.Though modern economists have pointed out the fallacies of the old wage-fund theory,no economist has yet succeeded in giving us a complete theory of wages in its place.I believe indeed that so complicated a set of conditions as are involved cannot be explained by any one formula,and that the attempt to do so leads to fallacies.Yet I am also aware that the public seem to feel themselves aggrieved that economists will not now provide them with another convenient set phrase in place of the wage-fund theory,and are inclined to doubt the validity of their explanations in consequence.Now,wages in a given country depend on two things:the total amount of produce in the country,and the manner in which that produce is divided.To work out the former problem we must investigate all the causes which affect the whole amount of wealth produced,the natural resources of the country,its political institutions,the skill,intelligence,and inventive genius of its inhabitants.The division of the produce,on the other hand,is determined mainly by the proportion between the number of labourers seeking employment and the quantity of capital seeking investment;or,to put the case in a somewhat different way,instead of saying that wages are paid out of stored-up capital,we now say that they are the labourer's share of the produce.What the labourer's share will be depends first on the quantity of produce he can turn out,and secondly,on the nature of the bargain which he is able to make with his employer.

同类推荐
  • 汉末英雄记

    汉末英雄记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 问孔篇

    问孔篇

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 瑜伽师地论略纂

    瑜伽师地论略纂

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说申日经

    佛说申日经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 游称心寺

    游称心寺

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 重刻四明十义书

    重刻四明十义书

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 总裁妈咪很风流

    总裁妈咪很风流

    匈牙利的夜晚,灯火辉煌。深蓝色的多瑙河蜿蜒曲折,流淌至天与地交汇的尽头。它缓缓地流淌,映倒着这座已有百年的城市,静静地倾听这座城市的所有心事。匈牙利,在夏末秋初的傍晚是最美丽的,透出一种静谧的天生丽质。河畔的一座精致别墅中,此时却激情四射!夜幕笼罩的卧房里狼藉一片,白色的大床上,纠缠不清!床上的女子风情万种,鲜艳的红唇在那个金发碧眼的匈牙……
  • 自有暗香来

    自有暗香来

    自断桥东边走来一个喇嘛,遇上西面来的剑客。剑客一身黑衣,头戴斗笠,光天化日之下,朝着喇嘛就拔出了剑,剑长三尺六寸,薄如纸片,色如银月。喇嘛使拳,与剑客过了百十来招,不敌剑势,节节败退。剑客乘胜追击,一剑割下了喇嘛的脑袋,明黄色的喇嘛帽掉到了地上,光溜溜的喇嘛脑袋落进了护城河里。剑客往剑上啐了口,收剑入鞘,大步朝西面去。
  • 每天学一点管理技巧

    每天学一点管理技巧

    本书内容丰富,涵盖了管理领域的各个方面,包括沟通技巧、奖惩原则、管人用人、企业文化建设、风险控制等,使读者做到一书在手,即可全面掌握现代管理理论,熟练运用现代管理技巧。书中既有技巧指导,又有案例解读,每一节后的“管理技巧点拨”更是使本书的可操作性得到增强,是一本不可多得的管理者参考用书。每一位管理者至少应翻阅本书5遍,并至少从本书中学会100个管理技巧。
  • 追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    青涩蜕变,如今她是能独当一面的女boss,爱了冷泽聿七年,也同样花了七年时间去忘记他。以为是陌路,他突然向他表白,扬言要娶她,她只当他是脑子抽风,他的殷勤她也全都无视。他帮她查她父母的死因,赶走身边情敌,解释当初拒绝她的告别,和故意对她冷漠都是无奈之举。突然爆出她父母的死居然和冷家有丝毫联系,还莫名跳出个公爵未婚夫,扬言要与她履行婚约。峰回路转,破镜还能重圆吗? PS:我又开新文了,每逢假期必书荒,新文《有你的世界遇到爱》,喜欢我的文的朋友可以来看看,这是重生类现言,对这个题材感兴趣的一定要收藏起来。
  • 系统之亡灵军团

    系统之亡灵军团

    穿越异界的李维,激活了大领主系统,率领亡灵军团征战天下。不装逼只打脸,我有系统在手,靠实力碾压,不需套路。
  • Once Upon a Crime (Sisters Grimm #4)
  • 大谋小计五十年:诸葛亮传(珍藏版大全集)

    大谋小计五十年:诸葛亮传(珍藏版大全集)

    《三国演义》对诸葛亮太多夸张杜撰,草船借箭、空城计等戏剧化的奇谋更是子虚乌有,民间传说则给诸葛亮附上了一层出神入化的神秘色彩;千百年来,真实的诸葛亮就被掩埋在那些神奇的传说与故事当中。本书将为您还原一个有血有肉,真情实感的诸葛亮。
  • 追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    追妻无门:女boss不好惹

    青涩蜕变,如今她是能独当一面的女boss,爱了冷泽聿七年,也同样花了七年时间去忘记他。以为是陌路,他突然向他表白,扬言要娶她,她只当他是脑子抽风,他的殷勤她也全都无视。他帮她查她父母的死因,赶走身边情敌,解释当初拒绝她的告别,和故意对她冷漠都是无奈之举。突然爆出她父母的死居然和冷家有丝毫联系,还莫名跳出个公爵未婚夫,扬言要与她履行婚约。峰回路转,破镜还能重圆吗? PS:我又开新文了,每逢假期必书荒,新文《有你的世界遇到爱》,喜欢我的文的朋友可以来看看,这是重生类现言,对这个题材感兴趣的一定要收藏起来。
  • 大祖帝

    大祖帝

    群雄角逐,万族并立,强者为王,弱小为罪,少年被打落悬崖,立志活到那个美丽的时代。