J.S.ミルの理想的市民社会論と株式会社論
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概要
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This paper aims to analyze John Stuart Mill's theory of joint-stock companies on the basis of Mill's theory of an ideal civil society. Mill recognized that the Industrial Revolution sparked social and economic problems. Unskilled labourers lapsed into moral decadence, which lowered productivity and decreased profit rates; thus this would then result in a dismal stationary state without any reform in the distribution of wealth. However, Mill asserted that social reforms would realize the ideal condition of a civil society even in the stationary state. To resolve these problems, Mill's theory of joint-stock companies is significant from two perspectives. First, from the perspective of productivity, large-scale production is greatly promoted by the accumulation of large capital through the formation of joint-stock companies. Further-more, co-operation among various people and combination of the labour force would lead to superior productivity. Second, from the perspective of property, Mill insisted on fair and just distribution of wealth and the necessity of managerial reforms. Reforms aimed at solving the unequal distribution of wealth could raise the living standards and the moral and intellectual standards of labourers. The moral qualities of this new kind of labourers, which could increase the rate of productivity, are as important to the overall efficiency of their labour, as their intellectual qualities. On the basis of the law of the inverse relationship between cost of labour and profits, Mill asserted that superior productivity would reduce the total cost of labour and increase the real wages of labourers and profits of capital. It was for this reason that Mill emphasized the importance of human development in terms of both labour and capital and the significance of joint-stock companies wherein labourers acquire skills and develop their abilities and individual specialties.
- 経済学史学会の論文
- 2011-01-31