This book offers a new interpretation of the labour theory of value based on the
concept of past labour and on the distinction between the origin, measure and regulation
of value. It is not a rehabilitation of the labour theory of value. It is not an encyclopaedia
of past authors. It is not a commentary on modern commentaries. It does not ask what we
derived from classical economics that is valid today. It asks, where did the classical
economists get their ideas?
1 Introduction 1
2 Sir William Petty: the father of political economy 17
3 John Locke: the classical perspective 34
4 Richard Cantillon 51
5 François Quesnay 64
6 Francis Hutcheson: Adam Smith′s professor 80
7 David Hume: Adam Smith′s best friend 95
8 Adam Smith and the labour theory of value 109
9 David Ricardo 136
10 Karl Marx: the exploitation of labour 162
11 Classical relics in neoclassical thought 185
12 Concluding points 199
