On Theory and History

The pure classical economic theory provides an endogenous explanation of how economic conflict might emerge and how a switch in socioeconomic regime might occur through the interaction of population growth and productivity. This little-appreciated implication of the basic Smith–Malthus model is here used to illuminate (1) the expansion of manorialism, (2) a period of shifting class interests in alternative distribution mechanisms, (3) the demise of the traditional share system, (4) the emergence of precapitalism, (5) successive surges in population growth, and (6) varied effects of the plague, including accelerated growth of the labor market or, contrastingly, a prolongation or temporary restoration of manorialism.

These events are given a new interpretation involving a specific sequence of switching economic pressures and class conflicts. This interpretation is not drawn from empirical research but is obtained a priori, as it were, from the classical model. There is evidence already in the literature, however, that would seem to provide a basis for believing in its relevance.