John Bates Clark

John Bates Clark
John Bates Clark (1847–1938) was an influential American economist and a key figure in the development of marginalist theory. He is best known for his work on the theory of distribution, particularly in his book "The Distribution of Wealth" (1899), where he developed the marginal productivity theory of income distribution. Clark argued that income in a competitive market is distributed according to the productivity of labor and capital, with each factor being paid according to its marginal contribution. His contributions laid the groundwork for modern neoclassical economics and earned him recognition as one of the founders of American economic thought.

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It is currently reported that the late King Edward once said, "We are all Socialists, now": and if the term "Socialism" meant to-day what His Majesty probably meant by it, many of us could truthfully make a similar statement. Without any doubt, we could do so if we attached to the term the meaning which it had when it was first invented. It came into use in the thirties of the last... more...

PREFACE In a work on the "Distribution of Wealth," which was published in 1899, I expressed an intention of offering later to my readers a volume on "Economic Dynamics, or The Laws of Industrial Progress." Though eight years have since passed, that purpose is still unexecuted, and it has become apparent that any adequate treatment of Economic Dynamics will require more than one volume... more...