Chapter I: Front Matter

Columbia University

FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

=Nicholas Murray Butler=, LL.D., President. =J. W. Burgess=, LL.D., Professor of Political Science and Constitutional Law. =Munroe Smith=, LL.D,, Professor of Comparative Jurisprudence. =F. J. Goodnow=, LL. D., Professor of Administrative Law. =E. R. A. Seligman=, LL.D., Professor of Political Economy and Finance. =H. L. Osgood=, Ph.D., Professor of History. =Wm. A. Dunning=, LL.D., Professor of History. =J. B. Moore=, LL.D., Professor of International Law. =F. H. Giddings=, LL.D., Professor of Sociology. =J. B. Clark=, LL.D., Professor of Political Economy. =J. H. Robinson=, Ph.D., Professor of History. =W. M. Sloane=, L.H.D., Professor of History. =H. R. Seager=, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor of Political Economy. =H. L. Moore=, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor of Political Economy. =W. R. Shepherd=, Ph.D., Instructor in History. =A. S. Johnson=, Ph.D., Instructor in Economics. =H. A. Cushing=, Ph.D., Lecturer in History. =J. T. Shotwell=, Ph.D., Lecturer in History. =G. W. Botsford=, Ph.D., Lecturer in History. =G. J. Bayles=, Ph.D., Lecturer in Sociology. =V. G. Simkhovitch=, Ph.D., Lecturer on History. =C. A. Beard=, Ph.D., Lecturer in History.

SCHEME OF INSTRUCTION

GROUP I. HISTORY AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY.

Subject A. European History, sixteen courses.
Subject B. American History, nine courses.
Subject C. Political Philosophy, three courses.
Subject D. Ancient History, seven courses.

GROUP II. PUBLIC LAW AND COMPARATIVE JURISPRUDENCE.

Subject A. Constitutional Law, four courses.
Subject B. International Law, four courses.
Subject C. Administrative Law, seven courses.
Subject D. Roman Law and Comparative Jurisprudence, seven courses.

GROUP III. ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL SCIENCE.

Subject A. Political Economy and Finance, fifteen courses.
Subject B. Sociology and Statistics, ten courses.

Most of the courses consist chiefly of lectures; a smaller number take the form of research under the direction of a professor. In each subject is held at least one seminar for the training of candidates for the higher degrees. The degrees of =A.M.= and =Ph.D.= are given to students who fulfil the requirements prescribed by the University Council. (For particulars, see Columbia University Bulletins of Information, Faculty of Political Science.) Any person not a candidate for a degree may attend any of the courses at any time by payment of a proportional fee. University fellowships of $650 each, and University scholarships of $150 each are awarded to applicants who give evidence of special fitness to pursue advanced studies. Several prizes of from $50 to $250 are awarded. The library contains about 370,000 volumes, and students have access to other great collections in the city.

2

HISTORY AND CRITICISM OF THE LABOR THEORY OF VALUE

STUDIES IN HISTORY, ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC LAW

EDITED BY THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE OF
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Volume XIX] [Number 2

HISTORY AND CRITICISM
OF THE
LABOR THEORY OF VALUE
IN ENGLISH POLITICAL ECONOMY

BY
ALBERT C. WHITAKER, Ph.D.,
_Sometime University Fellow in Economics, Columbia University;
Instructor in Economics, Leland Stanford Junior University_

New York
THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, AGENTS
LONDON: P. S. KING & SON
1904

COPYRIGHT, 1904,
BY
ALBERT C. WHITAKER

CONTENTS

PAGE

CHAPTER I

GENERAL OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF THE LABOR THEORY

§ 1. Scope of the present history 9

§ 2. Great diversity of early opinions on value 10

§ 3. The two main ideas, the “philosophical” and the “empirical”
accounts of value 12

CHAPTER II

ADAM SMITH’S PHILOSOPHICAL OR PRIMITIVE ACCOUNT OF VALUE

§ 1. Interpretation of Smith’s doctrine of value rendered difficult
by a plurality of explanations 16

§ 2. Preliminary observations concerning the use of the terms
“labor” and “value” 19

§ 3. The two distinct labor standards in the primitive account—the
“labor cost” and the “labor command” standards 20

§ 4. Smith’s conception of quantity of labor 22

§ 5. The labor and the corn measure of value in different times
and places 24

CHAPTER III

THE EMPIRICAL ACCOUNT OF ADAM SMITH

§ 1. Abandonment of the labor-cost standard for the conditions
of real society 29

§ 2. The labor-command standard retained as still valid 30

CHAPTER IV

CRITICISM OF THE THEORIES OF ADAM SMITH

§ 1. Principal argument for the labor-command standard a theory
of labor as undifferentiated or potential commodity 32

§ 2. Complete failure of this theory to afford an ultimate
philosophy of value 34

§ 3. The concept of labor as disutility cost suggests later
valid theories, but fails to lead to a satisfactory result 36

§ 4. The arguments, by which Smith supports the labor-command
standard, prohibit its use under the conditions of
advanced society 39