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7 Moffat's "Unorthodox" critique - Part II: nineteenth-century British and continental critics

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, The, Nov, 2003 by George Babilot

Although he wrote a number of articles and two important books on political economy, the contributions of Robert Scott Moffat, British author/essayist (1834-1895), are less well known than those of many of his contemporaries. He was a lucid, forceful writer whose works were often at odds with the premises of received economic doctrine. In focusing on the shortcomings of orthodox economics his efforts fell outside the classical mainstream, and perhaps this may have been a factor in his receiving less attention than did other writers of his day.

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His first book, titled The Economy of Consumption, appeared in 1878, and in it Moffat, in the tradition of earlier critics of similar persuasion (Lauderdale, Chalmers, Malthus, Sismondi), questions the efficacy of the competitive industrial organization in general, and the inherent ability of the system to avoid recurrent episodes of general overproduction in particular. Probably because of its length and the fact that it was a rather difficult book to read, it did not enjoy a very wide audience. Even so, the book's impact was of sufficient importance to provoke T. W. Hutchison into recognizing Moffat as one among the very few nonsocialist writers since Thomas Malthus to question the orthodox formula about the "impossibility of general over-production." (1)

The second book, Mr. Henry George the "Orthodox," published in 1885, is a lengthy effort (296 pages) at an "unorthodox" critique of Progress and Poverty (2)--an unorthodox critique because Moffat attempts to integrate his appraisal of the economics of Henry George into his objections to the orthodox economics of David Ricardo and J. S. Mill. He chooses this approach because it enables him to expound further on his own reservations concerning orthodox economics, and at the same time provides him with a convenient reference for analysis of George's work. The book, therefore, is designed to serve more than one purpose: as a vehicle to continue his attack on certain tenets of orthodoxy on the one hand, and, on the other, as a critical review of Progress and Poverty. Because much of Moffat's criticism of Henry George stems, in fact, from his preoccupation and disenchantment with orthodox economics, not surprisingly, he proceeds to reject methodically those parts of Progress and Poverty that he perceives as outgrowths of Ricardo-Mill principles, providing detailed commentary and explanations and, in the process, often citing his own The Economy of Consumption for support. Those portions that he admits have a certain uniqueness, on the other hand, he more often than not is inclined to dismiss as being rhetorical and scientifically or economically unsound.

This distinctive method of critique does not lack thoroughness. Systematically, and in some detail, Moffat discusses each subject in turn: Population, Wages and Capital, Laws of Distribution, Dynamics, book by book, chapter by chapter through book 4. He gives shorter treatment to the chapters on the Remedy and the Laws of Human Progress found in books 5 through 10, evidently feeling that the nature of the topics warranted only a summary evaluation. In a separate section there are an appraisal of George as an economist, a commentary on the theory of rent, and a reference to two "rival theories" of labor and wages. At only one point does Moffat depart from the order of topics as they are arranged in Progress and Poverty. He chooses to discuss the theory of population before discussing the topic of wages, maintaining that "a clear view of the problem of population is indispensable to any useful discussion of the problem of wages." More than neatness is implied by this change. In reversing the order of the first and second books Moffat hopes to reveal an error in George's thinking concerning the sequential relationship between the level of wages and growth in population, the source of the labor supply. Noting that George is "the boldest of the opponents to Malthus," he proceeds initially to examine in great length George's objections to the Malthusian theory and its related doctrine, the wages-fund theory.

The Malthusian Population Doctrine and Related Matters

It is well to keep in mind that Moffat's outlook is thoroughly Malthusian. This is evident not only in his views on population growth--approximately one-third of the book is on this subject--but also in his views concerning competitive organization of industry and the problem of recurrent overproduction ("gluts"). At only one point does he seriously differ from Malthus, and that is on the meaning of wealth. Unlike Malthus and the Classical School, he does not confine his definition to material commodities alone. He defines wealth as physical well-being that includes services as well as material commodities, and only in this sense would he agree that wealth is the central subject of political economy. Moffat claims classical economics to be in error for defining wealth so narrowly, and in even greater error for failing to tie in the theory of wealth with the theory of population. The broader view of wealth, he believes, makes the theory of population the most fundamental doctrine of political economy. Moreover, he is of the opinion that a theory of wealth not consistent with a theory of population is incapable of providing a scientific political economy.

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7 Moffat's "Unorthodox" critique - Part II: nineteenth-century British and continental critics

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, The, Nov, 2003 by George Babilot

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