[Bailey, Samuel] A Critical Dissertation on the Nature, Measures and Causes of Value chiefly in reference to the writings of Mr Ricardo and his followers. London: R. Hunter, 1825. First edition, 8vo, [xxviii], 255; bound with [Bailey, Samuel] Letter to a Political Economist, occasioned by an article in the Westminster Review on the Subject of Value. London: R. Hunter, 1826. 8vo, [iv], 101; 2 works in one volume, contemporary half calf, stamp on first title and bookplate on front endpaper of the Institute of Bankers in Scotland, covers detached, worn

Note: 'Samuel Bailey 1791-1870. English proto-marginalist economist and critic of the Classical Ricardian School. Bailey's reputation rests chiefly on his anonymous 1825 treatise, A Critical Dissertation, etc., which was written in response to de Quincey's Templars' Dialogue. Bailey pointed out the logical difficulties of both the labor theory of value and Ricardo's "invariable measure". Bailey also called for the generalization of the Ricardian theory of rent to wages. As a result, Bailey promoted a "cost of production" theory of value, which incorporated capital as well as labor. He might also be credited with the introduction of the notion of time-preference, arguing that "we generally prefer a present pleasure or enjoyment to a distant one, not superior to it in other respects." (Bailey, 1825). In response to a critical article in the Westminster Review, Bailey published his 1826 Letter restating his views' (History of Economic Thought, online, accessed 16th May 2022).