The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation

David Ricardo

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9780486147918
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Economic Theory
• Index: Economics

This landmark treatise of 1817 formulated the guiding principles behind the market economy. Author David Ricardo, with Adam Smith, founded the "classical" system of political economy, a school of thought that dominated economic policies throughout the nineteenth century and figured prominently in the theories of John Stuart Mill and Karl Marx.
A friend and colleague of James Mill, Thomas Malthus, and Jeremy Bentham — each of whom exercised a decided influence on his intellectual development — Ricardo elevated economic theory to hitherto unprecedented levels of sophistication. His clear and consistent definition of the classical system included the foundation of the tenets of diminishing returns and economic rent, which led to the doctrines known today as distribution theory and international trade theory, or comparative advantage. The Ricardian system continues to influence and inform modern economic thought, and The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation is essential reading for students of the social sciences.

INDEX

AGRICULTURE, effect of taxation on, 105, 118, 220

effect of war on, 177, 181

improved methods in, 40, 42, 71

nature’s aids to, 39

in relation to productive labour in general, 234-237

Banks, 238

rate of interest on money lent by, 246, 247

system of exchange with the Mint, 241, 242

Barton, on capital and labour, 270

Bills of exchange, 90, 91, 92

in relation to foreign currencies, 85, 92

Bounties, effect on colonial trade, 227

effect on price of commodities, 202

effect on relative value of money, 87, 207, 212

on exportation of corn, 201

on manufactures, 209

on production, 215

Buchanan, on bounties on exportation of corn, 211

on depreciation of the currency, 240, 251

on derivation of rent, 40, 224

on monopoly prices of raw produce, 166

on Poor Laws, 61

on rent as form of transferred revenue, 272

on rent in proportion to production, 224

on tax on malt, 168

on taxes on wages, 140, 143, 260

Bullion, exports and imports of, 150

Capital, 13

accumulation of, 73, 74, 79

British, in colonial trade, 231

circulating, 19, 23, 49, 94, 134

durability of, 18, 24, 27, 94

emigration of, 83

employment of, 48-51, 70, 164, 234, 235

fixed, 23, 29, 94, 133

increase in, causes of, 53, 54, 155

in foreign trade, 77, 78, 236

in home trade, 81, 83, 135

invested in land, 36, 41, 178-180

invested in machinery, 25, 26, 265

national, 94

nature of, 53

portion yielding no rent, 36, 37, 38, 64, 166, 189

price of commodities in relation to, 284

rent of land in relation to, 36

taxes on, 95

Cash accounts, 248

Colonial currency, 240

Colonial trade, 227

effect on British profits, 231

monopoly of, 231, 232

preference in, 231

Commercial treaties, ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Advertisement
• I. On Value
• II. On Rent
• III. On The Rent of Mines
• IV. On Natural and Market Price
• V. On Wages
• VI. On Profits
• VII. On Foreign Trade
• VIII. On Taxes
• IX. Taxes on Raw Produce
• X. Taxes on Rexnt
• XI. Tithes
• XII. Land-Tax
• XIII. Taxes on Gold
• XIV. Taxes on Houses
• XV. Taxes on Profits
• XVI. Taxes on Wages
• XVII. Taxes on Other Commodities than Raw Produce
• XVIII. Poor Rates
• XIX. On Sudden Changes in the Channels of Trade
• XX. Value and Riches, Their Distinctive Properties
• XXI. Effects of Accumulation on Profits and Interest
• XXII. Bounties on Exportation, and Prohibitions of Importation
• XXIII. On Bounties on Productions
• XXIV. Doctrine of Adam Smith Concerning the Rent of Land
• XXV. On Colonial Trade
• XXVI. On Gross and Net Revenue
• XXVII. On Currency and Banks
• XXVIII. On the Comparative Value of Gold, Corn, and Labour, in Rich and Poor Countries
• XXIX. Taxes Paid by the Producer
• XXX. On the Influence of Demand and Supply on Prices
• XXXI. On Machinery
• XXXII. Mr. Malthus’s Opinions on Rent
• Index