Harro,


Thanks *very* much.  I was thinking of the idea more as something being used by defenders of the current economic system as an argument for the legitimate character of profits.


jeremy Shearmur

________________________________
From: Societies for the History of Economics <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Harro Maas <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, 19 May 2016 5:23:31 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [SHOE] Profit as payment for use of tools

I suppose the idea goes back to notions such as capital advanced in classical political economy. However, to the best of my knowledge in Britain in many branches of industry workmen were themselves the owners of the tools they worked with, and were supposed to bring them to work. But property rights were not always clearly delineated. A famous example is the conflict between Charles Babbage and his workman Charles Clement, who constructed Babbage Difference Engine I in his workplace in Lambeth, a manufacturing (and more) disctrict in ninenteenth century London. When finance for the project dried up, Babbage got into a row with Clement about who owned what, and more in particular who was the owner of the tools. Details (and wider implications of this conflict) can be found in Simon Schaffer's "Babbage Intelligence: Calculating Engines and the Factory System", Critical Inquiry (1994): 203-227, and in Doron Swade's Charles Babbage and his Calculating Engines (1991), London: Science Museum.

Best,

Harro Maas
Centre Walras-Pareto

On Wed, May 18, 2016 at 8:10 PM, Jeremy Shearmur <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:

I have come across a few references, in material written by businessmen in the 1950s, to the justification of profit as 'payment for the use of tools'.  Forgive my ignorance, but can list members give me references to the history of this idea?


Jeremy Shearmur



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