Unproductive Labour in Political Economy - The History of an Idea

Contemporary mainstream economists see social wealth as the sum of individual incomes, but for three centuries many economists saw wealth as consisting of the public and private resources of a nation. This led them to explore the idea of unproductive labour, which provides a nation with an individual income, but does not contribute to an increas

List of contents

I - Introduction: what is unproductive labour, II - Unproductive labour before Smith, III - Physiocracy: labour productive of surplus - Condillac, IV - Adam Smith: the struggle against rent, V - Supporters of Smith on unproductive labour, VI - Critics of Smith on services and intellectual labour, VII - The subjective approach (all labour productive), VIII - The deadlock of unproductive consumption, X - Underconsumption and crises, X - Technical progress, XI - Marx’s blind alley on unproductive labour, XII - Investment in human capital, XIII - Overproduction versus underconsumption, XIV - Fall and revival of Smith’s distinction, XV - Crises and underconsumption in Marx and his followers, XVI - Productiveness of public expenditures, XVII - Productive labour in the 1960s-70s Marxist thought, XVIII - New middle classes and human capital, XIX - The welfare state as investment in human capital, XX - Saturation: the growth of unproductive labour, XXI - The future of productive labour

About the author

Cosimo Perrotta is a retired Professor of the History of Economic Thought at the University of Salento, Italy

Summary

Contemporary mainstream economists see social wealth as the sum of individual incomes, but for three centuries many economists saw wealth as consisting of the public and private resources of a nation. This led them to explore the idea of unproductive labour, which provides a nation with an individual income, but does not contribute to an increas

Additional text

Winner of the 2019 Ernest Lluch Prize from the Spanish Association of Economic History

Product details

• Authors: Cosimo Perrotta, Cosimo (University of Salento Perrotta
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.09.2020
• EAN: 9780367666446
• ISBN: 978-0-367-66644-6
• No. of pages: 270
• Series: Routledge Studies in the History of Economics
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Philosophy > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Miscellaneous; Business & Economics / General, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economics / General, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economic History, Economic history, Labour / income economics, Social & political philosophy, Economic theory & philosophy, social and political philosophy, Labour Economics, Political Economy, Economic theory and philosophy