ABSTRACT
Under this heading we may group analysis of the fluctuations of prices; the value of money; the mechanism of wage-fixing; and unemployment. The study is therefore important in itself. Further this study has given rise to a new approach to economics. Hitherto, economists have been chiefly interested in adjustments towards equilibrium, but this problem is one of pathological economics yet supplementing, and in no way displacing, the classical studies of economic harmony. The classical social standpoint, strengthened by the reaction from mercantilism, led to excessive sophistication of the facts in so far as it viewed money prices as merely superficial, as in truth [they are?] manifestations of the fundamental social mechanisms of communal co-operation in the production of wealth. Heterodox views soon appeared, accusing the orthodox of confusing acquisitive with productive actions, of stressing the harmony of interests at the expense of explaining their opposition. Sismondi was one of the first to interest himself in this “disharmony” (also Lauderdale, Malthus, Daniel Raymond). At the present time take Effertz, “Arbeit und Boden,” Landry in his Manuel d’Économie Politique, and Davenport.
