John Bates Clark

Born Jan. 26, 1847, in Providence, R.I.; died Mar. 21, 1938, in New York. American economist; founder of the theory of marginal productivity, one of the main dogmas of bourgeois political economy.

Clark graduated from Amherst College (USA) in 1872 and continued his studies at the University of Heidelberg and the University of Zürich. Beginning in 1877 he served as a professor of economics at a number of American colleges, including Columbia University from 1895 to 1923. He was the president of the American Economic Association from 1893 to 1895. According to his theory of marginal productivity, the process of production is characterized by the diminishing productivity of labor and capital. Using this phenomenon of diminishing productivity, Clark formulated what is known as Clark’s law: the value (cost) of a product is determined by the sum of the marginal utilities of its qualities. In Clark’s opinion, labor and capital are equally important factors in the formation of the value of a product. The capitalist’s claim to profit is based on this logic.

Clark asserted that the distribution of social product is carried out in proportion to the contribution of each of the factors of production (labor, capital, land) to the national income. In this way he tried to prove that in capitalist society a harmony of interests reigns. Clark explained the low level of workers’ pay by the excessively rapid growth of their population. In the early 20th century, Clark defended trusts, maintaining that they are not in fact monopolies because they do not exercise complete control over the market. Clark’s apologetic theory is used by contemporary bourgeois economists.