Wealth and Population in Classical Political Economy: An Intellectual Approach

自曼德维尔和德福以来的经济学话语特别强调模仿和帕累托主义的主题。曼德维尔和休谟关注的是经济的动态性，即以奢侈、虚荣和时尚为导向的经济。然而，除了曼德维尔和德福对贫困法和定居法的批判外，斯密认为竞争是过度工作的原因，并批评定居法阻碍了劳动者顺利地获得工作机会。与休谟和斯密积极地描述商业社会的影响相反，18世纪80年代初出现了消极地对待商业社会的新趋势。麦克法兰澄清了文明下奢侈的蔓延造成了财富分配的多样性，指出这是下层贫困的真实的原因。汤森运用文明史的观点来说明财富与人口之间可能的适当平衡。根据汤森的观点，穷人法导致了人口过剩，并伴随着贫困。马尔萨斯以人口理论的风格发展了贫困的批判性论点。

The economic discourses since Mandeville and DeFoe put the special emphasis on the topics of the emulation and pauperism. Mandeville and Hume focused on the dynamic character of economy which was oriented by luxury, vanity and fashion. However, besides Both of Mandeville and DeFoe were critical to the poor laws and settlement acts, Smith regarded emulation as the cause of over-working, and criticized the settlement acts because it obstructs the smooth move of the laborer to the job opportunity.In contrast to Hume and Smith who characterized the effect of commercial society positively, the new trend emerged in early 1780s that treated it negatively. McFarlen clarified that the spread of luxury under the civilization causes the diversity of the distribution of wealth, and pointed out that it was the real cause of the poverty in lower ranks. Townsend utilized the historical view of the civilization in order to show the possible proper balance between the wealth and the population. According to Townsend, the poor law causes the over-population with accompanied the poverty. Malthus developed the critical argument of poverty in the style of population theory.