Work and Welfare: The Social Costs of Labor in the History of Economic Thought

by Donald R. Stabile

Overview

This interesting work presents a unique perspective on the history of economic thought by showing that classical economists from Adam Smith to Alfred Marshall had sympathy for workers - for example, the theory of the subsistence wage echoed the theological call for a just wage that existed in the middle ages. It also describes how these thinkers promoted either a set of social obligations or a form of social insurance to assist workers. These economic thinkers of the past argued that a subsistence standard of living was important to maintain and improve workers' efficiency and to raise healthy families. The notion that these writers had an undeveloped theory of social costs that they applied to labor should appeal to economists and others concerned with the plight of workers as the modern economy restructures itself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313297380
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	02/06/1996
Series:	Contributions in Economics and Economic History , #16
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.56(d)
Lexile:	1470L (what's this?)

About the Author

DONALD R. STABILE is Professor of Economics and Chair of the Economics Department at St. Mary's College of Maryland. He is associate editor of Business Library Review and has conducted seminars on Thorstein Veblen and Alexander Hamilton for the program of summer seminars for school teachers of the National Endowment for Humanities. He is coauthor (with Jeffrey Cantor) of The Public Debt of the United States (Praeger, 1991), and author of Activist Unionism (1993) and Prophets of Orde(1984).

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Just Wage and the Standard of Living
Adam Smith: The Friend of Labor
Malthus, Ricardo and Bentham: The Fund for Maintaining Labor
John Stuart Mill and Labor's Responsibility
Karl Marx: The Alienation and Exploitation of Labor
Marginalism, Moral Character and Work
Institutional Economics and the Community Approach to Labor
Orthodox Economics and the Scientific Treatment of Labor
Conclusion: The Endangered Worker
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

A history of ideas on labor conditions and human welfare as expressed in the writings of economic thinkers including Adam Smith, Malthus, and Karl Marx, examining attitudes on labor's responsibility; the alienation and exploitation of labor; marginalism, moral character, and work; institutional economics and the community approach to labor; and orthodox economics and the scientific treatment of labor. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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