Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In political economics, that part of the total productive capital of a country or community which is employed in paying the wages of labor, as distinguished from the part invested in buildings, machinery, raw materials, etc See the quotations.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Yet it was only from that point of view that he considered every laborer, though in many points he differed from the economists and had his own theory of the wage-fund, which he expounded to Levin.

    Anna Karenina 2003

  • It is not necessary to subscribe to the old discredited wage-fund theory, in order to agree with this.

    The Trade Union Woman Alice Henry 1900

  • However that may be, the important point for the working men of England to mark is, that every loss of rich men resident, every loss of tribute, every reduction of the wage-fund, every pressure on the population to emigrate, everything that leads in the direction of a self-supporting England, means immediate pressure on the poor, with reduction of wages.

    Speculations from Political Economy C. B. Clarke 1869

  • Yet it was only from that point of view that he considered every laborer, though in many points he differed from the economists and had his own theory of the wage-fund, which he expounded to Levin.

    Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy 1869

  • This is generally cited as the first statement of the 'wage-fund' theory, to which I shall have to return.

    The English Utilitarians, Volume II (of 3) James Mill Leslie Stephen 1868

  • Mr. Mill's prompt recognition of the importance of Mr. Thornton's refutation of the wage-fund theory is only one out of numberless instances of his peculiar magnanimity.

    John Stuart Mill; His Life and Works Twelve Sketches by Herbert Spencer, Henry Fawcett, Frederic Harrison, and Other Distinguished Authors Herbert Spencer 1861

  • Slide 132: · wage-fund theory law of diminishing returns 132

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows 2008

  • Slide 132: · wage-fund theory law of diminishing returns 132

    Recently Uploaded Slideshows 2008

  • Mr. Mill's prompt recognition of the importance of Mr. Thornton's refutation of the wage-fund theory is only one out of numberless instances of his peculiar magnanimity. ”

    John Stuart Mill; His Life and Works Spencer, Herbert 1873

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