Doctrinal Contest II

Abstract

This chapter continues the study of the doctrinal contest between Malthus and Ricardo by turning to the central topic of rent. Ricardo’s treatment of rent in his Principles developed the account that he had earlier established in his Essay on Profits by combining it with his theory of value. So armed, Ricardo could intensify his attack on the landlord class as parasitic on the nation’s wealth. At the same time, Smith and Malthus were subjected to doctrinal correction. Malthus’s reply drew on the formidable resources of natural theology to portray rent as a dispensation from God, while he simultaneously characterized Ricardo as a reckless theorist whose doctrines could endanger political harmony. Once again, what at first sight appears to have been a dry doctrinal contest was in fact an intensely political and ethical confrontation.