WILLIAM NASSAU SENIOR AND THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ABSTINENCE, CAPITAL AND INTEREST
Abstract
This paper highlights Senior’s credit for having introduced the analysis of “abstinence” into the economic vocabulary and its importance in the formation of capital; and also, how the latter, with him, undergoes a strong improvement compared to the original formulations. It is reasonable to believe that Senior’s influence was truly important, since all the subsequent efforts to extend the analysis of marginal utility to the distribution of resources over time by the concept of temporal rate derive from Senior’s theory of abstinence.
References
[2] Bailey, S. 1825. A critical dissertation on the nature, measure, and causes of value. London, R. Hunter..
[3] Barro, R.J. 1974. Are government bonds net wealth? Journal of Political Economy, 82(6): 1095-1117.
[4] Bowley, M. 1936. Nassau Senior’s contribution to the methodology of economics. Economica, 3(11): 281–305.
[5] Bowley, M. 1937. Nassau Senior and classical economics. London George Allen & Unwin, 358 p.
[6] Brandford, DeLong, J. 1986. Senior’s ‘last hour’: Suggested explanation of famous blunder. History of Political Economy, 18(2): 325-333.
[7] Conard, J. 1959. An introduction to the theory of interest. Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press. Available at: https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.138005/2015.138005.An-Introduction-To-The-Theory-Of-Interest_djvu.txt
[8] Depoortère, C. 2013. William Nassau Senior and David Ricardo on the method of political economy. Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 35(1): 19-42.
[9] De Marchi, N. 1987. Abstinence, in Eatwell J., Milgate M., Newman P., eds., “The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics”, (1): 8–9, London Macmillan.
[10] Ekelund, R., Hébert, R. 1975. A history of economic theory and method. New York, McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 0070191433, 9780070191433, 508 p.
[11] Fisher, I. 1930. The theory of interest. New York, The Macmillan Company. Available at: http://files.libertyfund.org/files/1416/0219_Bk.pdf
[12] Garegnani, P. 1984. Value and distribution in the classical economists and Marx. Oxford Economic Papers, 36(1): 291–325.
[13] Gootzeit, M.J. 1992. Senior’s abstinence theory of the supply of business saving. Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 14(2): 244-256.
[14] Hupfel, S. 2010. The spitalfields acts and the classics: Ricardo, J.S. Mill, Bowring, and Senior on the London silk industry (1823 to 1841). The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 19(2): 165-195.
[15] Lloyd, W.F. 1834. A lecture on the notion of value. London, Roake and Varby. Available at: https://archive.org/details/lectureonnotiono00lloy/page/n4
[16] Longfield, M. 1834. Lectures on political economy. Dublin, Milliken.
[17] Malthus, T.R. 1821. An inquiry into those principles respecting the nature of demand and the necessity of consumption. London, Printed for R. Hunter.
[18] Malthus, T.R. 1836. Principles of political economy, considered with a view to their pratical applications, Second edition. London, Pickering. ISBN: 9781851961054, 439 p.
[19] Marx, K. 2006. Il Capitale, libro primo, in Classici dell’economia. Milano, Milano Finanza Editori.
[20] Meoli, U. 1972. Storia delle idee politiche economiche e sociali, volume quinto. Torino Utet. 919 p.
[21] Mill, J.S. 2006. Principi di economia politica, in Classici dell’economia. Utet, Libreria Torino. ISBN: 978-88-02-07263-0, 1276 p.
[22] Morselli, A. 2017. Crisi e ciclo economco. Un richiamo alla teoria malthusiana. Roma, Aracne. ISBN: 978-8825509304, 100 p.
[23] Ricossa, S. 1998. Dizionario di economia, Torino, Utet. ISBN: 8802052336, 9788802052335, 581 p.
[24] Rossitto, E. 1993. La metafora del capitale. Acireale, Galatea Editrice.
[25] Say, J.B. 1803. Traité d’économie politique. Paris, Deterville. Available at: https://www.institutcoppet.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Traite-deconomie-politique-Jean-Baptiste-Say.pdf
[26] Senior, N.W. 1836. Principes fondamentaux de l’économie politique : Tires de leçons édites et inédites. Paris, Librairie Aillaud, 403 p.
[27] Senior, N.W., Whately, R. 1836. An outline of the science of political economy, reprint of economic classics, New York, Augustus M. Kelley, Bookseller, 1965, 249 p. Available at: http://digamo.free.fr/senior36.pdf
[28] Senior, N.W. (1847-52), Lectures, course II, lecture 9.
[29] Senior, N.W. (1847-52), Lectures, course II, lecture 8.
[30] Senior, N.W. 1848. J.S. mill on political economy. Edinburgh Review, 88: 293–339.
[31] Von Böhm-Bawerk, E. 1907. Capital and interest once more. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 21: 247–282.
[32] Von Böhm-Bawerk, E. 1930. The positive theory of capital. New York, GE. Stechert & Co, Vol. I, Chapter 1. Available at: https://mises-media.s3.amazonaws.com/The%20Positive%20Theory%20of%20Capital.pdf
[33] Whately, R. 1832. Introductory lectures on political economy, 2nd edition. London, J.W. Parker. Available at: https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/whately-introductory-lectures-on-political-economy
Non-Exclusive License under Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC BY 4.0):
This ‘Article’ is distributed under the terms of the license CC-BY 4.0., which lets others distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon this article, even commercially, as long as they credit this article for the original creation. ASERS Publishing will be acknowledged as the first publisher of the Article and a link to the appropriate bibliographic citation (authors, article title, volume issue, page numbers, DOI, and the link to the Published Article on ASERS Publishing’ Platform) must be maintained.