On Sat, 27 Jul 2002, Michael Perelman wrote:
> Regarding the other Michael P.'s idea about the gradual release of > people from agriculture, in researching classical political economy in > my book, The Invention of Capitalism, I found that the old classical > political economists were very much concerned that the dispossession of > the people in the countryside not occur too precipitously. Including people like Smith and Stewart? I thought I remember you saying they were for it because it kept wages low, and because subsistence was the biggest obstacle to getting people to submit to capitalist discipline -- with Stewart saying this overtly and Smith by omission. Am I remembering right? But perhaps they still thought there could be too much of a "good thing?" Michael
