Elements of Risk in Classical Political Economy and Marx

Michel Zouboulakis

Bulletin of Political Economy, 2022, vol. 16, issue 2, 147-159

Abstract: As against the established view in HET text books, elements of risk decision making were present in economic theory, long before Frank Knight’s great contribution. Smith announced the importance of risk premium and analysed thoroughly the different kinds of “chances of profit†between lotteries, insurances, sea trade etc. Mill also recognised risk as a distinct element of profits of capital and distinguished two different sources of risk. Risky behaviour, although subordinated, is also investigated in Marx’s work. Therefore, even if the distinction between insurable risks and non-insurable uncertainty is equivocal before 1921, substantial evidence of it is indeed perceptible long before.

Keywords: risk; uncertainty; Adam Smith; Nassau William Senior; John Stuart Mill; Karl Marx. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B12 B14 D81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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