History
Nick Hanauer Claims Economic Theory Dating to 1879 Was Designed to Prevent Worker Revolts
Diary of a CEO
Death of the Middle Class: Billionaire vs Entrepreneur DEBATE - Daniel Priestley v Nick Hanauer
"J.P. Morgan brings this guy, John Bates Clark, to Columbia University and says, fix this. And so Henry George writes a book called The Distribution of Wealth, in which he invents this idea called theory of marginal productivity. But he says the quiet part out loud in the book. He says, look, we have to prove to working people that no matter how much they make, whether it's a little or a lot, it reflects their value. Because if they conclude that their work is worth more than they are paid, they will revolt and kill us all."
Hanauer revealed that the theory of marginal productivity—which asserts that wages reflect workers' true value—was explicitly invented in 1879 to prevent labor revolts. He claims J.P. Morgan commissioned economist John Bates Clark to create this theory after Henry George's bestselling book about rich stealing from the poor threatened the status quo. This theory remains central to modern economics despite its origin as a tool to suppress worker demands.
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