Project SherlockEst. Knowledge

Book

1867

Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Volume I

Karl Marx

Profit under capitalism originates in surplus value extracted from labour rather than in exchange, and the system's own dynamics drive it toward crisis and concentration — a foundational critique still argued over by economists and historians alike.

Before you start

Assumes: Smith and Ricardo at least in outline, since Volume I is a critique that assumes its target is known

Read these first

Not a difficulty warning — a route. These are in the library too.

An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsAdam Smith, 1776A nation's wealth comes from the productivity gains of specialisation and the division of labour, coordinated not by design but by each person pursuing their own interest within a system of markets.

If this is the wrong level

Too hard? Start hereThe Communist ManifestoKarl Marx & Friedrich Engels, 1848History is the history of class struggle, and capitalism's own internal contradictions will produce the conditions for its overthrow by the proletariat it creates.

Filed under Schools of Economic Thought in Economics.