ABSTRACT
The machinery question was a pivotal economic and social issue as the industrial revolution gathered strength in Britain. The public’s attitude toward machinery was an ambiguous one. While the benefits – indeed the wonders – of machinery were a visible manifestation of sweeping economic change, broad segments of the working class regarded it as a threat to their livelihood. The destruction of machinery by the Luddites, and the riots of workers who lost their jobs due to mechanization, became frequent occurrences. The implications of machinery inevitably became a lively item of debate among the growing number of adherents of the English classical school of political economy. In a period that Thomas Carlyle called the “Age of Machinery”, it is not surprising that the opinion held on such a burning issue of the day by an economist of the calibre of David Ricardo, the presumptive leader of the classical school, would be highly regarded.
