Psychology Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Social goods: Social goods are things that benefit society as a whole. They are typically things that are essential for human well-being, such as clean air, clean water, healthcare, and education. Social goods can also include things like environmental protection, social justice, and economic equality. See also Equality, Society, Community, Welfare state, Education, Education policy._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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David Ricardo on Social Goods - Dictionary of Arguments
Kurz I 278 Social goods/exhaustible resources/Ricardo/Kurz: Ricardo: While it is commonly thought that Ricardo's treatment of exhaustible resources is to be found first and foremost in the barely three pages of Chapter III of the Principles(1), 'On the Rent of Mines', this is actually not so. This chapter is in fact confined to a discussion of the rents of differently fertile mines in complete analogy to the rents of differently fertile lands. These rents arise because the exploitation of mines is typically subject to capacity constraints which imply that mines with different costs of extraction have to be operated at the same time. Ricardo develops an analysis of exhaustible resources rather in the context of a discussion of the difference between rent and profits He begins this discussion in Chapter II, 'On Rent', in which he also criticizes Smith's cavalier and confusing use of the two concepts. Then, in Chapter XXIV, 'Doctrine of Adam Smith concerning the Rent of Land', he elaborates on his criticism of Smith's doctrine. He illustrates the fecundity of his own, Ricardo's, rigorous conceptualizations of these two important analytical categories in political economy and shows that Smith 's analysis is bound to end in a muddle. As usual, Ricardo is 'desirous only to elucidate the principle' at work (Ricardo 1951(1): 121), as he stresses in another context, and therefore bases his argument on strong assumptions. These assumptions, (…) imply that the exhaustion of each and every deposit of an exhaustible resource will nevertheless leave the prices of all produced commodities unaffected over time. In this way Ricardo manages to isolate a particular phenomenon at hand and put it into sharp relief. In the context we are interested in, this refers to the distinction between differential rent and profits, where what Ricardo calls profits comprises what we nowadays call royalties. Hence royalties are there in Ricardo's analysis, but they are not easily identifiable as such. Prices: The assumptions of Ricardo and Smith contradict the Hotelling rule, according to which all prices have to change over time. >Hotelling Rule. Kurz I 279 Social goods/Smith/Ricardo: (i) While Smith and Ricardo were aware of the exhaustibility of each and every deposit of a resource, they did not yet contemplate the case of the exhaustibility of the resource as a whole, (ii) Ricardo assumed that in order to meet the effectual demand for a resource, several deposits typically have to be worked simultaneously, because with regard to each deposit there is a capacity constraint that limits the time rate of raising the resource. Kurz I 283 Hotelling Rule/Ricardo: The fact that Ricardo did not elaborate what now is called the Hotelling Rule cannot therefore be considered an expression of a failure and a lack of analytical profundity on his part. It simply expresses a concern with a world in which the total exhaustion of certain resources was not yet considered a possibility worth studying. 1. Ricardo, D. (1951 [1817]) On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, in P. Sraffa (ed.) with the collaboration Of M.H. Dobb, The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, Vol. I, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (P/b edn 2004, Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund.) Kurz, Heinz D. and Salvadori, Neri. „Ricardo on exhaustible resources, and the Hotelling Rule.“ In: Kurz, Heinz; Salvadori, Neri 2015. Revisiting Classical Economics: Studies in Long-Period Analysis (Routledge Studies in the History of Economics). London, UK: Routledge._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
EconRic I David Ricardo On the principles of political economy and taxation Indianapolis 2004 Kurz I Heinz D. Kurz Neri Salvadori Revisiting Classical Economics: Studies in Long-Period Analysis (Routledge Studies in the History of Economics). Routledge. London 2015 |
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> Counter arguments against Ricardo
> Counter arguments in relation to Social Goods
