ABSTRACT
Technical progress consists in the gradual substitution of labour with natural power processed by men. It is pursued to bring down the production costs and raise productivity and profits. The concept of comfort escaped the rigid dualism of the classical distinction between wage goods and luxury goods. Thus, it allowed for a level of analysis closer to reality. Some authors welcomed the increase in comfort, and some associated it with technical progress. Destutt de Tracy provided one of the most insightful analyses against the unproductive luxury of the rich. He contrasted the laboriousness of industry and the selfish ineptitude of the landed nobility. It is not true, he said, that consumption as such is wealth. McCulloch, too, contested the idea that luxury production is unproductive. There is no clear-cut division between necessaries and luxuries, he said. Luxury demand fosters production. The classical economists were perfectly aware of the causes and effects of technical progress.
