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Check the OED. The first use I see is 1878, a little late for Marx.  
There is a usage of "Robber King" by Ruskin which might be  
linked.   
 
I don't know whether the folks cited in the OED are economists or  
not. Does C. F. Adams count? That is the 1878 reference.   
 
The OED has big gaps -- I discover -- when the word 
comes into the langauge from periodicals. I find that 
the word "knot" [Carlyle uses it in Shooting Niagara] 
has according to a piece in the North British Review 
an Irish connotation. The OED doesn't get that, I think. 
 
David Levy 
 
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