Wealth and Population in Classical Political Economy: An Intellectual Approach

自曼德维尔和笛福以来的经济话语特别强调了模仿和贫困的主题。曼德维尔和休谟关注的是以奢侈、虚荣和时尚为导向的经济的动态特征。然而，除了曼德维尔和笛福都对糟糕的法律和定居法案起到了关键作用外，斯密还认为模仿是过度工作的原因，并批评定居点法案阻碍了劳动者顺利获得就业机会。与休谟和斯密积极描述商业社会影响的做法不同，18世纪80年代初出现了一种消极对待商业社会的新趋势。麦克法伦阐明了文明下奢侈品的蔓延导致了财富分配的多样性，并指出这是底层贫困的真正原因。汤森运用了文明的历史观，以显示财富和人口之间可能存在的适当平衡。根据汤森的说法，贫穷的法律导致了人口过剩和伴随的贫困。马尔萨斯以人口理论的风格发展了关于贫困的批判性论点。

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.