Spencer Heath Archive

Item 165

Handwritten note New York Public Library

November 11,1952

Malthus on Rent

1    The economists considered rent as the sole fund capable of supporting taxes, and on which they ultimately fell.

Rent Defined – “that portion of the value of the whole produce which remains to the owner of the land after” all costs and profits of labor and capital at the “ordinary rate.

Immediate cause – “excess price above the cost of production at which raw produce sells.”

p.32 “We see then, that a progressive rise of rents seems to be necessarily connected with the progressive cultivation of new land, and the progressive improvement of the old: and that this rise is the natural and necessary consequence of the operation of four causes, which are the most certain indications of increasing prosperity and wealth — namely, the accumulation of capital, the increase of population, improvement in agriculture, and the high price of raw produce, occasioned by the extension of our manufactures and commerce.”