Definitions in Political Economy, / Preceded by an Inquiry Into the Rules which Ought to Guide Political Economists in the Definition and Use of Their Terms; with Remarks on the Deviation from These Rules in Their Writings

by T. R. Malthus

[41]. Principles of Polit. Econ., part iii. p. 313.

[42]. Principles of Polit. Econ., part iii. p. 313.

[43]. Principles of Polit. Econ. part ii. p. 69.

[44]. Wealth of Nations, b. i. c. vi.

[45]. It must always be recollected, that the advance of a certain number of days’ labour necessarily involves the wages paid for them, however these wages may vary in quantity. But the essential advance is the quantity of labour, not the quantity of money or corn.

[46]. Principles of Polit. Econ., part iii. p. 223. This is a most remarkable passage to come from Mr. Macculloch, who, though he agrees with Mr. Ricardo in words, has, in reality, deserted him, and agrees in substance with Adam Smith. According to the new meaning, which Mr. Macculloch has given to the term profits—the quantity of labour required to produce a commodity, is precisely equal to the quantity of labour for which it will ordinarily exchange, and certainly not equal to what Mr. Ricardo meant by the quantity of labour bestowed upon it.

[47]. Principles of Polit. Econ., part iii, s. 1. p. 221.

[48]. A person who uses a term in a particular sense practically defines it in that sense. Mr. Macculloch sometimes makes what have hitherto always been considered as profits mean labour; and sometimes makes labour, when used simply without any adjunct, mean fermentation, vegetation, or profits.

[49]. Macculloch’s Principles of Polit. Econ., part ii. p. 189.

[50]. Id. p. 190.