The Wages Fund Doctrine: a Lakatosian Analysis
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Open Research Online The Open University’s repository of research publications and other research outputs The wages fund doctrine: a Lakatosian analysis Thesis How to cite: Vint, John (1992). The wages fund doctrine: a Lakatosian analysis. PhD thesis The Open University. For guidance on citations see FAQs. c 1991 The Author https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Version: Version of Record Link(s) to article on publisher’s website: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21954/ou.ro.0000fda8 Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. oro.open.ac.uk THE WAGES FUND DOCTRINE: A LAKATOSIAN ANALYSIS by John Vint BA Hons MA Thesis submitted to The Open University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Economics December 1991 o ^ ml&s liPfx I 2- 3 he.c.e^^^-r' I I ProQ uest Number: C401320 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent on the quality of the copy submitted. in the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest C401320 Published by ProQuest LLC (2019). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. Ail Rights Reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 - 1346 In a general combination of labourers to obtain higher wages, success Is Impossible^ because the capital out of which the Increased wages are to be drawn does not exist. In a partial combination no such Impossibility presents Itself, since the Increased wages secured for some merely absorbs a larger share of the capital, leaving less to be distributed among others. William Ellis, Lessons on the Phenomena of Industrial Life and the Conditions of Industrial Success 1854 The doctrine hitherto taught by all or most economists (Including myself), which denied It to be possible that trade combinations can raise wages, or which limited their operation In that respect to the somewhat Q9.rller attainment of a rise which the competition of the market would have produced without them, — this doctrine Is deprived of Its scientific foundation, and must be thrown aside. The right and wrong of the Proceedings of Trades' Unions becomes a common guestlon of prudence and social duty, not one which Is peremptorily decided by unbending necessities of political economy, John Stuart Mill, "Thornton on Labour and Its claims". Fortnightly Review, 1869 THE WAGES FUND DOCTRINE; A IiAKATOSIAN ANALYSIS ABSTRACT For almost a century the wages fund doctrine existed as an important part of Classical economic thought. It formed the theoretical basis of the Classical analysis of the labour market, and was employed by political economists and popularizers of political economy when discussing the role of trades unions, the impact of machinery, the effect of the Poor Laws and other policy issues. This thesis applies the ideas of Imre Lakatos to the history of the wages fund doctrine in order to analyze and appraise its development and decline. The theoretical framework employed is based on Lakatos' methodology of scientific research programmes and the methodology of historiographical research programmes. Various elements of this framework are then applied to the history of the wages fund doctrine. It is argued that the hard core of the wages fund research programme emerged gradually in the work of the early Classical writers and was fully formed by the 1820s. A major counterexample to the programme — the 'monster' of money wages — is analyzed using the concepts developed by Lakatos in his Proofs and Refutations [1976]. It is argued that the programme made theoretical progress at the hands of Ricardo, Senior and Mill but that this progress halted in the 1850s. The 1860s saw a major debate concerning the wages fund doctrine prompted the events of that decade, and this debate is analyzed in detail using the tools and concepts of the Lakatosian framework. The thesis rationally reconstructs the wages fund doctrine and the recantataion debate as 'scientific' and provides evidence that the methodology of historiographical research programmes continues to make theoretical progress. I would like to thank my supervisor Dr Vivienne Brown of the Faculty of Social Science at The Open University for all the critical advice, help and encouragement which she gave me in preparing this thesis. John Vint March 1992 Material contained in or relevant to the thesis previously published or presented at conferences: Vint J (1981) "A Two Sector Model of the Wages Fund: Mill's Recantation Revisited", British Review of Economic Issues, vol 3 No 9, Autumn. Contains arguments discussed in chapters four and seven. Vint J (1986) "Research Programmes and the classical Theory of Wages: A Case Study", presented to the Historv of Economics Societv Conference. Columbia University, New York. Contains material relevant to chapters one, two, three, four and five. Vint J (1990) "The 'Rigid' Wages Fund Doctrine: McCulloch, Mill and the 'Monster of Money", in w J Barber (ed) Perspectives in the Historv of Economic Thought. Edward Elgar, London. Contains material relevant to chapters four and seven. Vint J (1990) "Thornton and Mill on the supply and Demand of Commodities: a Lakatosian View", paper presented to the First Congress of the International Societv for the Intercommunication of Novel Ideas, University of Paris, Sorbonne, August. Vint J (1992) "Thornton and Mill on the supply and Demand of Commodities : a Lakatosian View", International Journal of New Ideas, vol I, forthcoming. Contains arguments and analysis presented in chapter six. THE WAGES FUND DOCTRINE: A LAKATOSIAN ANALYSIS CONTENTS page CH 1 Introduction: The Wages Fund Doctrine, Milles Recantation and the Historv of Economic Thought I CH 2 The Methodoloov of Scientific Research Programmes and Rational Reconstruction I Introduction 9 II MSRP: The Elements of the Framework 13 III Counterexamples and Theoretical Change 16 IV Progressive and Degenerative Problemshifts 22 V Rational Reconstruction and the History of Science: MSRP and MHRP (a) Rational Reconstruction and MHRP 29 (b) Internal and External History 31 (c) Appraisal and Advice 35 VI Conclusions: MSRP and Historical Analysis 38 CH 3 Classical Wage theory and the Emergence of the Hard Core; Smith, Malthus, Ricardo and Janifag Mill ” I Introduction 42 II The Wages Fund Doctrine as a Research Programme 4 3 III The Hard Core of the Wages Fund Research Programme 4 9 IV Elements of the Hard Core: Smithy Ricardo and James Mill: 57 (a) Adam Smith 5g (b) David Ricardo 67 (c) James Mill 76 V The Wages Fund Doctrine and Population Theory: the Malthusian Legacy 79 (a) Population Theory and Long Run Wage Theory 79 (b) Population Theory and the Short Run Wages Fund Doctrine 85 VI Conclusions 9 5 page CH 4 The Development of the Hard Core; Rigidity, Dichotomy and Criticism I Introduction 98 II Developing the Hard Core: McCulloch and Marcet 101 III Malthus, McCulloch and the 'Monster' of Money 207 IV The Hard Core at Work: McCulloch, Torrens and Mill 215 (a) Money Funds and Real Funds 115 (b) Wage Theory and the Trades Unions 123 (c) Torrens and Mill on the Long Run 136 V Wage Theory, Early Critics and Ricardian Socialists 244 VI Conclusions 257 CH 5 Theoretical Progress and Novel Facts; Ricardo Senior and Mill I Introduction 261 II The Nature of Novel Facts i64 m Classical Wage Theory, Novel Facts and Progress 269 1 The Wages Fund Doctrine: Short Run and Two Period Analyses i69 2 The Long Run Theory 214 IV Conclusions 222 CH 6 The Wages Fund Debate I; Longe, Thornton and Mill on Supply and Demand I Introduction 225 II Fawcett, Mill and Trade Union Developments in the 1860s 230 III Thornton and Mill on the Supply and Demand of Commodities 241 (a) The Thornton-Mill Debate 244 (b) The Fish Auction I Example: Coincidental Schedules and Implications for Mill's Recantation 247 (c) The Fish Auction II, Horse and Glove Examples; the Critique of Equilibrium and Mill's Defence 251 (d) Thornton as a Disequilibrium Theorist 257 IV Longe, Thornton and Mill on Labour Supply and Demand and the Wages Fund Doctrine 260 V Conclusions 268 CH 7 The Wages Fund Debate II; Refutation and Recantation I Introduction 272 II Wages From Capital 276 III The Nature of Labour Demand 281 IV The Money Fund, The Real Fund and Price Effects 297 V Restatement and Rebuttal 304 VI Conclusions 322 page CH 8 Conclusions I Introduction 321 II The History of the Wages Fund Doctrine Rationally Reconstructed 322 (a) The Development of the Hard Core 323 (b) The Rigid Wages Fund Doctrine: A Content Decreasing Response to a Counterexample 324 (c) Theoretical Progress and Decline 326 (d) The Recantation Debate Rationally Reconstructed 328 III The Role of External History 330 IV The Wages Fund Doctrine as a Historical Novel Fact 331 References 334 I.* Introduction 1 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION: THE WAGES FUND DOCTRINE, MILL'S RECANTATION AND THE HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT In 1867 W T Thornton wrote an article for the Fortnightly Review which began by quoting Proudhon's famous declaration, 'la propriété c'est le vol'[1867, p477], Thornton's piece was entitled "Stray Chapters From a Forthcoming Work On Labour" and in it he explored the wide question of a man's right to live by labour. In the book itself On Labour which appeared in 1869 Thornton presented a critique of supply and demand analysis, an appraisal of the union movement and a discussion of the future of 'labour and capital in alliance' which, he argued, lay in the development of industrial partnership and the cooperative movement.