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First published 1836

Principles of Political Economy

by Thomas Robert Malthus

London: W. Pickering, 1836 (2nd ed.); Online Library of Liberty edition319 pages

Principles of Political Economy by Thomas Robert Malthus is available as a free PDF and EPUB download at freecapitalists.org.

Author
Thomas Robert Malthus
First published
1836
Format
PDF and EPUB
Pages
319
Publisher
London: W. Pickering, 1836 (2nd ed.); Online Library of Liberty edition
License
Public domain by publication date.

Malthus's systematic treatise on economics, first published in 1820 and here in the posthumous second edition of 1836. It covers value, rent, wages, and profits, and is best known for its argument that demand can fall short of production, a position that put him at odds with Ricardo and Say over the possibility of a general glut.

What's in it

46 chapters · 171,482 words · free to read here

  1. CONTENTS.
  2. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION.
  3. MEMOIR OF ROBERT MALTHUS.
  4. INTRODUCTION.
  5. Section I.—: On the Definitions of Wealth.
  6. Section II.—: On Productive Labour.
  7. Section I.—: On the different sorts of Value.
  8. Section II.—: Of Demand and Supply as they affect Exchangeable Value.
  9. Section III.—: Of the Cost of Production as affected by the Demand and Supply, and on the mode of representing Demand.
  10. Section IV.—: Of the Labour which has been employed on a Commodity considered as a Measure of its Exchangeable Value.
  11. Section V.—: Of the Labour which a Commodity will command, considered as a Measure of Value in Exchange.
  12. Section VI.—: On the Practical Application of the Measure of Value, and its general Use and Advantages.
  13. Section VII.—: On the Variations in the Value of Money in the same, and different Countries.
  14. Section I.—: Of the Nature and Causes of Rent.
  15. Section II.—: On the necessary Separation of the Rent of Land from the Profits of the Cultivator and the Wages of the Labourer.
  16. Section III.—: Of the Causes which tend to raise Rents in the ordinary Progress of civilized and improved Societies.
  17. Section IV.—: Of the Causes which tend to lower Rents.
  18. Section V.—: On the Dependance of the actual Quantity of Produce obtained from the Land, upon the existing Prices of Produce, and existing Rents, under the same Agricultural Skill and the same Value of Money.
  19. Section VI.—: Of the Connexion between great comparative Wealth, and a high comparative Price of raw Produce.
  20. Section VII.—: On the causes which may mislead the Landlord in letting his Lands, to the Injury both of himself and the Country.
  21. Section VIII.—: On the strict and necessary Connection of the Interests of the Landlord and of the State.
  22. Section IX.—: General Remarks on the Surplus Produce of the Land.
  23. Section I.—: On the Definition of the Wages of Labour, and their Dependance upon Supply and Demand.
  24. Section II.—: Of the Causes which principally affect the Habits of the Labouring Classes.
  25. Section III.—: Of the Causes which principally influence the Demand for Labour, and the Increase of the Population.
  26. Section IV.—: A Review of the Corn Wages of Labour from the Reign of Edward III.
  27. Section V.—: On the Conclusions to be drawn from the preceding Review of the Prices of Corn and Labour during the five last Centuries.
  28. Section I.—: Of the Nature of Profits, and the Mode in which they are estimated.
  29. Section II.—: Of the limiting Principle of Profits.
  30. Section III.—: Of the regulating Principle of Profits.
  31. Section IV.—: Of Profits as affected by the Causes practically in operation.
  32. Section V.—: Remarks on Mr. Ricardo’s Theory of Profits.
  33. CHAPTER VI.: OF THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN WEALTH AND VALUE.
  34. Section I.—: Statement of the particular Object of Inquiry.
  35. Section II.—: Of the Increase of Population considered as a Stimulus to the continued Increase of Wealth.
  36. Section III.—: Of Accumulation, or the Saving from Revenue to add to Capital, considered as a Stimulus to the Increase of Wealth.
  37. Section IV.—: Of the Fertility of the Soil, considered as a Stimulus to the continued Increase of Wealth.
  38. Section V.—: Of Inventions to save Labour, considered as a Stimulus to the continued Increase of Wealth.
  39. Section VI.—: Of the Necessity of a Union of the Powers of Production with the Means of Distribution, in order to ensure a continued Increase of Wealth.
  40. Section VII.—: Of the Distribution occasioned by the Division of landed Property considered as the Means of increasing the exchangeable Value of the whole Produce.
  41. Section VIII.—: Of the Distribution occasioned by Commerce, internal and external, considered as the Means of increasing the exchangeable Value of Produce.
  42. Section IX.—: Of the Distribution occasioned by personal services and unproductive Consumers, considered as the Means of increasing the exchangeable Value of the whole Produce.
  43. Section X.—: Application of some of the preceding Principles to the Distresses of the Labouring Classes since 1815, with General Observations.
  44. About Liberty Fund
  45. The Online Library of Liberty
  46. Copyright Information

In the lecture archive

Lectures that discuss Principles of Political Economy

Recorded talks in this archive that name this book, each linked to the moment it comes up:

  • 23. Return To Mercantilism?

    Henry Hazlitt · The Failure of the "New Economics"

    On the contrary, I am inclined to agree with the conclusion of Malthus himself, which appears in the preface to his Principles of Political Economy, just after the passage quoted a few pages back.

    Hear it at 1:00:36

  • 4. The Decline of the Ricardian System, 1820-48

    Murray N. Rothbard · Classical Economics

    By the time of the publication of his Principles of Political Economy in 1820, however, Malthus had wisely grown skeptical of the possibilities of maths in economics as well as in ethics and politics.

    Hear it at 37:39

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