ABSTRACT
There were three editions of Imperialism: A Study in Hobson’s lifetime. After the first in 1902, the book was reissued in 1905 and again in 1938, just before his death. Reasonably enough, it is usually assumed that Imperialism, which remained unchanged in essentials through all three editions, represents the sum of what Hobson thought about the subject. It was certainly his most important single statement on the issues and its central messagethat imperialism was one of the fruits of underconsumption, which was inevitable under unreformed capitalism, or what he sometimes called ‘improperty’, and that it would disappear only when improperty was removed-remained Hobson’s firm conviction throughout. On the other hand, his thoughts on the exact nature of the connection between improperty and imperialism and on the ways in which the one might be reformed and the other eliminated, were not always the same; he held different views at different times on the interrelations between international trade in general and economic imperialism as a specific problem arising from it.
