The Marginal Productivity Theory of Distribution (MPTD) claims
that in a free-market economy the demand for a factor of production
will depend upon its marginal product where "marginal product" is
defined as the change in total product that is caused by, or that
follows, the addition or subtraction of the marginal unit of the
factor used in the production process, with all other inputs held
constant. From its inception in the early nineteenth century the
MPTD has been claimed by some economists to be a solution to the
ethical problem of distributive justice, i.e. to be a means of
determining fairness in wages, profits, interest and rent. Other
economists have rejected this ethical claim, but have seen the MPTD
as a valid demand-side criterion in the determination of
equilibrium and efficiency.
This book argues that the MPTD is valid, neither as a normative
theory of social justice, nor as a positive law of economics. It
suggests that economics is yet to develop a satisfactory theory of
distribution that is scientific in the quantitative or mathematical
sense. Through a survey of the origin and subsequent evolution of
the MPTD in the writings of over 50 contributors over 150 years,
John Pullen presents a critical history of the concept. The book
begins by examining the conceptual tools that have been deployed to
facilitate this analysis of past contributions to the MPTD and then
looks at various economists and their contribution to the debate
including its supporters such as Wicksteed, Marshall, Wicksell and
Stigler, and its critics such as Pareto, Hobson, Edgeworth,
Adriance and Cassel."
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