The origins and development of labor economics
Subtitle: a chapter in the history of social thought
By: Paul J. McNulty. --
Publisher: MIT Press
Published: 1980
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass
Number of pages: 248
Subjects: Economics -- History; Labor economics -- History
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.

6

1	THE HERITAGE AND THE BACKGROUND	
	The Market and Its Significance	10
	The Medieval Setting	12
	The Laborer in the Early Modern Era	21
2	THE LABOR ECONOMICS OF ADAM SMITH	
	Conditioning Factors and Forces	38
	Labor as a Productive Factor	41
	Labor as a Measure and Source of Value	45
	Labor as a Recipient of Income	49
	Labor as a Human Condition	56
3	THE CLASSICAL APPROACH	
	The Ricardian Influence	63
	Economic Theory versus Economic Policy	70
	The Primacy of the Wage Problem	75
	The Classical Economists and Trade Unionism	80
	The Worker and Economic Progress	85
4	THE MARXIAN CRITIQUE	
	Sources and Influences	91
	The Theory of Labor Alienation	95
	The Theory of Labor Exploitation	100
	Labor as a Force in History	107
	A Postscript on Marxian Economics	109
5	MARGINALISM AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN WAGE THEORY	
	The Wages Fund Controversy	111
	Marginalism and the Productivity of Labor	117
	The Marshallian Synthesis	122
6	LABOR PROBLEMS AS AN APPLIED FIELD	
	The Background and the Environment	128
	Some New Voices	131
	The Economists and Organized Labor	140
	Early Research in Labor Problems	142
	The Emergence of Labor Courses	148
7	LABOR ECONOMICS AND THE INSTITUTIONALIST MOVEMENT	
	Institutionalism Foreshadowed	153
	A New Specialty	156
	From Problems to Process	160
	The Labor Economists and Economic Theory	163
	The Inclusiveness of Labor Economics	167
	Labor Economics and Institutionalism in Perspective	172
8	ECONOMICS AND THE STUDY OF LABOR: THE MODERN SYNTHESIS	
	Some Prewar Precursors	177
	The Postwar Environment: Wages and Unionism	183
	Labor as Human Capital	192
	Industrial Relations and the Interdisciplinary Heritage	197
	The Quality of Modern Labor Economics	200
	Notes	205
	Index