ABSTRACT
One of the great metaphysical ideas in economics is expressed by the word "value". A sketchy theory of value will serve well enough, for the main point is to argue the advantages of free trade and accumulation of stock. The important thing is increasing physical output, and prices do not really matter very much. Adam Smith's story of the beavers and deer has no warrant either analytical or historical. He derived it from moral preconceptions. That is how it ought to have been. The hunters were living in an idyllic past when the economic system was morally satisfactory. Karl Marx's analysis showed capitalism as a necessary stage in economic development, required to ripen the productive power of social labour, which cannot and must not be overthrown before it has fulfilled its historic mission. The standard of life that prevails when "the class of free labour is formed" sets the level for real-wage rates.
