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(REVISED EDITION)

BY

RICHARD T. ELY, PH.D., LL.D.

PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL ECONOMY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN

REVISED AND ENLARGED BY

THE AUTHOR

AND

THOMAS S. ADAMS, PH.D.

PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL ECONOMY IN THE UNIVERSITY

OF WISCONSIN

MAX O. LORENZ, PH.D.

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL ECONOMY IN THE UNIVERSITY
OF WISCONSIN; DEPUTY COMMISSIONER IN THE WISCONSIN
BUREAU OF LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS

ALLYN A. YOUNG, PH.D.

PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS IN LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR
UNIVERSITY

New York

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

1910

All rights reserved

594473
C

COPYRIGHT, 1893,

BY HUNT & EATON.

COPYRIGHT, 1908,

BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

First published elsewhere. Reprinted May, 1900; July, October,
1901; August, 1903; July, September, 1904: July, 1905; January,
August, 1906; July, 1907: April, 1908.

New edition, revised and enlarged, September, October, 1908;
January, August, 1909; December, 1910.

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PREFACE

SINCE the first edition of the Outlines of Economics was published fifteen years ago, there has been considerable progress in economic discussion. In this revision an attempt has been made to include so much of the new thought as seems to have established itself. No chapters remain unaltered, most of them have been entirely rewritten, and some new ones have been added. But the plan of the former edition has been retained. This book differs from the Elementary Principles of Economics, published in 1904 by Ely and Wicker, in that it is a more advanced treatise, and intended primarily for college and university use; whereas the latter, although used in a number of higher institutions, is intended primarily for high schools.

Four persons have taken part in this revision, but a free interchange of criticism has, it is hoped, resulted in a unified product. Numerous passages, amounting in the aggregate to many pages, have been printed in smaller type. Such are the passages which, either from their greater difficulty or from their subsidiary character, may best be omitted by a teacher pressed for time. Moreover, for classes in which the time limits are too narrow to permit careful study of the whole text, it may be found expedient to omit Book III, on Public Finance; while, on the other hand, some teachers may wish to take this Book up for independent study.

Considerable attention has been given to the questions at the close of each chapter, and an endeavor has been made to frame these so as to require a mastery of principles to answer them. Perusal of the text alone will not enable one to answer them all. In some cases it will be necessary to use the references to literature given at the close of chapters. There are also cases in which the correct answer must be a matter open to differences of opinion. It is hoped and believed that the questions will give rise to fruitful class discussions.

The aim of the authors has been to cover the entire field of economics, feeling that in this way they best serve the purposes of those students who are going to carry their studies further as well as those whose systematic school study of economics will end with the present treatise.

At certain points in the discussion of distribution, use has been made of the so-called "productivity theory." In order that there may be no misapprehension, it may be well to say here, what is repeated in the text, that in our view this theory has little or no ethical significance, and that its principal value is as an expeditious method of approaching the supply and demand theory, with which it is in complete harmony. When properly handled, it has the pedagogical virtue of leading the student directly to a study of the innumerable forces which condition supply and demand. But to regard the productivity theory as an end, is to mistake the problem for its solution; and to pass from this theory lightly to the immediate solution of those problems which the theory of distribution is designed to explain, is to offer, in place of scientific explanation, a mass of pretentious platitudes.

Valuable suggestions have been received from Dr. H. C. Taylor and from Dr. W. H. Price, both of the University of Wisconsin. In conclusion, I wish to express my high appreciation of the work of my friends and colleagues in the revision of this book. RICHARD T. ELY.

MADISON, WISCONSIN,
July, 1908.

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