Distributive Justice: The Right and Wrong of Our Present Distribution of WealthRyan, John A. (John Augustine)
PhilosophyChristian
Distributive Justice: The Right and Wrong of Our Present Distribution of Wealth
Ryan, John A. (John Augustine)
Economic history; Income distribution -- Moral and ethical aspects; Wealth -- Religious aspects
He contends that the amount of product added by the presence of the
least productive labourer in a group or establishment describes the
productivity of that and every other labourer for whom the man in
question can be substituted. Nevertheless this marginal labourer had
the use of _some_ capital, no matter how little or how poor;
consequently the increment of product which follows his activity is
partly due to capital. It represents something other than his own
productive power. If his wage equals the value of this increment of
product, he is receiving something more than his specific product.
In the second place, Professor Clark maintains that the difference
between what a labourer produces when he uses the whole of a certain
supply of capital and what he produces when he has shared that capital
with another labourer, represents the specific productivity of the
relinquished capital. Let us assume that in a given case the
difference is ten units of product. When the first man had the whole
capital to himself, the product was one hundred units; when he shares
the use of it with another, the total product is one hundred and
eighty units. As the two men are assumed to be equally productive,
each has to his credit ninety units of product. Working with half the
capital, the first man finds that the resulting product is ten units
less than when he was using the whole capital. Hence these ten units
represent the portion that the relinquished capital contributed to the
product; and if the productivity of half the capital is ten units,
that of the whole capital must be twenty units. Nevertheless, the ten
units by which the product was enlarged when the man had the whole
capital, did not come into being without his co-operation; hence they
cannot be entirely attributed to the one-half share of the capital. In
other words, the productivity of the relinquished capital seems to be
less than ten units. It also seems to be more than ten units; for we
may assume that if each man were to use one-half the capital
independently of the other, the resulting total product would be less
than one hundred and eighty units, or less than ninety units for each.
Consequently the difference between the product resulting from the
first man's use of the whole capital and that resulting from his use
of half the capital would be more than ten units; and this difference
is specifically attributable to half the capital. Who can say which of
these calculations is correct, or whether either of them is correct?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account