The Grounds of an Opinion on the Policy of Restricting the Importation of Foreign Corn; Intended as An Appendix to Observations on the Corn Laws.

MALTHUS, Thomas Robert

Edité par London: Printed for John Murray:, First edition,, 1815

A propos de cet article

8vo., 48pp., with early owner signature to foot of title page and some occasional light scattered spotting to first few leaves only, neatly bound in later navy blue buckram. A generally VG+ first editon copy of this rare and important work. (Goldsmith, 21177; Lowndes, 1459; Kress, C6535). Robert Malthus (he went by his middle name) was born in "the Rookery", a country estate in Dorking, Surrey (south of London). He was the second son of Daniel Malthus, a country gentleman and avid disciple of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and David Hume (both of whom he knew personally). Accordingly, Malthus was educated according to Rousseauvian precepts by his father and a series of tutors. Malthus entered Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1784 and was ordained a minister of the Church of England in 1788. He earned his M.A. in 1791. "One of the founders of modern economics," Malthus was credited by Keynes with framing the theory "that a lack of effective demand can cause economic crises" (PMM 251). In 1805, Malthus "became professor of history and political economy at the newly founded college of Haileybury [where] he gave lectures on political economy, which, as he declares, the hearers not only understood, but 'did not even find dull.' The lectures led him to consider the problem of rent. The theory at which he arrived is partly indicated in two pamphlets upon the corn laws, published in 1814 and 1815. In 1814, Malthus launched himself into the Corn Laws debate then raging in parliament. After a first pamphlet, Observations, outlining the pros and cons of the proposed protectionist laws, Malthus tentatively supported the free traders, arguing that as cultivation as British corn was increasingly expensive to raise, it was best if Britain at least in part on cheaper foreign sources for its food supply. He changed his mind the next year, in his 1815 Grounds of an Opinion pamphlet, siding now with the protectionists. Foreign laws, he noted, often prohibit or raise taxes on the export of corn in lean times, which meant that the British food supply was captive to foreign politics. By encouraging domestic production, Malthus argued, the Corn Laws would guarantee British self-sufficiency in food. The doctrine thus formulated has been generally accepted by later economists" (DNB). "A substantial contribution to general economics The rent theory it propounded [is] historically significant because it attracted [Malthus' friend and correspondent David] Ricardo from money into general economics and supplied him with an important building block" for his work of "determining the distribution of national income between landowners, capitalists and workers.".

N° de réf. du vendeur 3298

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: The Grounds of an Opinion on the Policy of Restricting the Importation of Foreign Corn; Intended as An Appendix to Observations on the Corn Laws.
• Éditeur: London: Printed for John Murray:, First edition,
• Date de parution: 1815
• Reliure: Couverture rigide