Labour employed in production and labour commanded: a Ricardian conjecture

Nerio Naldi

Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2003, vol. 27, issue 4, 547-562

Abstract: This paper explains the origin of some important ambiguities in the analysis of value and prices put forward by Smith in his Wealth of Nations by considering the possibility that they reflect a previous draft of the book where the quantity of labour employed in production was indicated as the sole determinant of real price and exchange ratios. This conjecture is evidenced indirectly by the way in which Smith presented his own analysis at the end of Book I, Chapter IV; by some passages contained in Book I and Book II which suggest that the quantity of labour employed in production should play a crucial role within the analysis of exchangeable value; and by the important modifications introduced by Smith in Book I, Chapter VI, after the first edition of the Wealth of Nations was published. Copyright 2003, Oxford University Press.

Date: 2003
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:cambje:v:27:y:2003:i:4:p:547-562

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Cambridge Journal of Economics is currently edited by Jacqui Lagrue

More articles in Cambridge Journal of Economics from Cambridge Political Economy Society Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().