Joseph Massie (economist)

Joseph Massie († November 1, 1784 in London) was a British political economist who came forward with some papers on interest rate, money, taxes, duties, foreign and colonial trade, debt, distribution of wealth and poverty.

About person and life Massie almost nothing is known. He was apparently fairly wealthy and had an extensive library. The same was lost after his death, but the inventory was partly preserved and allows a fairly accurate overview of authors and themes of British social science literature between the 16th and the 18th century.

Massie engaged in one of the first authors of the modern age with the quantitative and qualitative determination of social classes and tried, among other things, to determine the distribution of income and wealth in the UK. Here he distinguished six levels; the closer and more real upper class (category 1) he saw in 310 families that the most extensive land ownership (goods between 10,000 and 20,000 acres, together with the categories 2 and 3, more than half of the total arable land ), used, the destitute poverty population (Category 6) he counted to 40 % of the country's inhabitants.

Marx discovered in the preparatory works to the capital on Massie and commented on its 1750 published anonymously writing An Essay on the Governing Causes of the Natural Rate of Interest, in the Massie turned against the established by Locke believes that the amount of the interest of the money supply determines will (see theories of Surplus value, MEW band 26.1). Marxist historians of science saw in Massie a " link between Petty and North on the one hand and on the other hand Smith " and certified him " remarkably mature theoretical insights ."

Works (selection)

• An Essay on the Governing Causes of the Natural Rate of Interest; Wherein the Sentiments of Sir William Petty and Mr. Locke, on Head did, are considered, London in 1750.
• The proposal, Commonly Called Sir Matthew Decker's scheme, for one general tax upon houses, laid open; and shewed to be a deep concerted project to traduce the wisdom of the legislature; disquiet the minds of the people; and ruin the trade and manufacturies of Great Britain, London 1757th
• A Representation Concerning the Knowledge of Commerce as a National Concern; Pointing out the Proper Means of Promoting Knowledge -seeking in this Kingdom, London in 1760.
• A Free and Equal Parliament for England, London in 1780.