Adam Smith and Malthus on high wages

Abstract

For Adam Smith, capital accumulation was necessary and sufficient for high wages. But for Malthus it is not necessary because if workers choose to delay marriage the equilibrium real wage will rise even if the economy will be stationary; it is not sufficient because land scarcity causes wages and profits to fall with accumulation in the absence of technical progress. The first qualification signals a post-Revolutionary recognition that the lower orders have it in their own power to improve their condition. The second qualification is the defining assumption of the new, ‘classical’ political economy of the English School.