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Henry Charles Carey (December 15, 1793 – October 13, 1879) was an influential 19th-century American economist and the leading proponent of the "American School" of political economy. He served as chief economic advisor to President Abraham Lincoln. Carey is best known for his strong advocacy of protectionism to foster industrial development, his critique of British classical economics (particularly the theories of David Ricardo and Thomas Malthus), and his optimistic view of human progress and the harmony of economic interests.

Henry Charles Carey was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the eldest son of Mathew Carey (1760–1839), an influential Irish-born economist, political reformer, editor, and publisher. His father was a strong advocate for protective tariffs and internal improvements, ideas that deeply influenced Henry. Carey received his early education largely through his father's extensive library and by working in his father's publishing house, Carey, Lea & Carey, which was one of the most prominent in the United States. He did not attend college but was an avid reader and largely self-taught in economics and social sciences.

In 1814, at the age of 21, Henry C. Carey became a partner in his father's publishing firm. He became the head of the firm in 1821 (renamed Carey & Lea), transforming it into a highly successful enterprise. The firm published works by prominent American authors like Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper, as well as American editions of British authors. He retired from the publishing business in 1835 with a considerable fortune, allowing him to dedicate the rest of his life to the study and writing of political economy and social science.

After retiring from publishing, Carey devoted himself to economic research and writing. He became a prolific author, producing numerous books, pamphlets, and articles. His early works, such as Essay on the Rate of Wages (1835), showed adherence to laissez-faire principles. However, by the 1840s, particularly after observing the effects of the Panic of 1837 and British economic policies, he became a staunch advocate for protectionism.

Carey became a leading intellectual figure in the Whig Party and later the Republican Party. He was a close associate of prominent politicians like Henry Clay and Horace Greeley. During the Civil War, he served as a key economic advisor to President Abraham Lincoln and Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase, strongly influencing the protectionist tariff policies (e.g., the Morrill Tariff) and financial measures adopted by the Union.

Carey's economic system was a direct challenge to the prevailing British classical school, offering an optimistic, nationalistic, and developmentalist alternative.

Carey was the foremost American theorist of protectionism. He argued that free trade, as advocated by British economists, was a tool of British imperial policy designed to keep other nations (like the United States) as mere suppliers of raw materials and consumers of British manufactured goods. He contended that:

Infant Industry Argument: Protective tariffs were necessary to shield nascent American industries from established British competition, allowing them to grow and mature.
National Development: Protectionism would foster a diversified national economy, balancing agriculture with manufacturing and commerce. This would create a robust domestic market, reduce dependence on foreign powers, and increase national wealth and power.
Bringing Consumer and Producer Together: Tariffs would encourage domestic production, reducing transportation costs ("the tax of transportation") and bringing the farmer and the factory worker closer, leading to mutually beneficial exchange.
Higher Wages and Living Standards: A diversified, industrialized economy would create more skilled jobs and lead to higher wages for American workers compared to the "pauper labor" of Europe.

Carey systematically attacked the core tenets of British classical economics, particularly the pessimistic conclusions of Malthus and Ricardo.

Contrary to Thomas Malthus, who argued that population tends to outgrow food supply leading to misery, Carey believed that population growth was a source of strength and progress. He contended that:

Human ingenuity and association increase with population density, leading to greater division of labor, technological innovation, and increased productive power.
The "power of association" allows humans to overcome natural limitations and increase the food supply more rapidly than population growth.

David Ricardo argued that as population grows, less fertile land is brought into cultivation, leading to diminishing returns in agriculture and rising rents for landowners at the expense of capitalists and laborers. Carey inverted this:

He argued that settlers initially cultivate poorer, more accessible lands (e.g., hillsides) and only later, with increased capital and population, move to drain and cultivate richer, more challenging lands (e.g., fertile valleys).
Therefore, agricultural productivity tends to increase over time, not decrease, as human skill and capital are applied to land. Rent, in his view, was primarily a return on capital invested in land improvements.

Carey proposed that the value of a commodity is determined not by the amount of labor originally embodied in it (as in classical labor theory of value) nor by its utility, but by the cost of reproduction – that is, the amount of labor and resources required to produce an identical item at the present time, given current technology and knowledge. This theory accounted for technological progress, which continually reduces the cost of reproducing goods.

A central theme in Carey's work was the "harmony of interests." He believed that, under a proper economic system (i.e., protectionism and national development), the interests of different economic classes (laborers, capitalists, landowners) were not inherently antagonistic, as suggested by some classical economists and later by Marxists. Instead, he argued:

Prosperity for one class would lead to prosperity for all.
Industrialization would benefit agriculture by creating a domestic market for farm products and providing manufactured goods more cheaply.
Rising wages and profits could occur simultaneously as overall productivity increased.

Carey argued that as society progresses and capital accumulates, the share of total output going to labor tends to increase, while the share going to capital (as a percentage) tends to decrease, even though the absolute amount of profit for capitalists might increase due to a larger overall pie. This optimistic view contrasted sharply with the "iron law of wages" and the idea of a falling rate of profit leading to a stationary state.

Carey was a profound optimist regarding human potential and social progress. He believed that human association, facilitated by population growth and economic development, was the key to advancing civilization. He saw history as a movement from dispersion and weakness to concentration, association, and power.

Carey was the most prominent American economist of his time and the intellectual leader of the protectionist movement in the U.S. throughout the mid-to-late 19th century.
His ideas heavily influenced Republican Party platforms and U.S. tariff policy from the Civil War until the early 20th century.
He influenced other economists in the "American School," such as E. Peshine Smith and William Elder, and had an international following, particularly in Germany (where Friedrich List had earlier developed similar ideas) and Japan.
His emphasis on national economic development and the role of the state in fostering industry resonated with developing nations.
While his specific theories (like the cost of reproduction theory of value or his inversion of Ricardian rent) are not widely accepted in mainstream economics today, his arguments for infant industry protection remain a part of debates on trade and development policy.

Critics, particularly free-trade advocates, argued that Carey's protectionism would lead to higher prices for consumers, inefficient allocation of resources, and potential for political corruption (rent-seeking).
Some economists found his theoretical framework less rigorous than that of the classical school he criticized.
His optimistic assumptions about the harmony of interests and the benefits of population growth were seen by some as unrealistic or overlooking potential conflicts and environmental constraints.
His inversion of Ricardian rent theory, while offering an interesting counterpoint, did not fully displace the concept of diminishing marginal returns in specific agricultural contexts.

Essay on the Rate of Wages: With an Examination of the Causes of the Differences in the Condition of the Labouring Population Throughout the World (1835)
The Harmony of Nature, as Exhibited in the Laws Which Regulate the Increase of Population and of the Means of Subsistence; and in the Identity of the Interest of the Sovereign and the Subject, the Landlord and the Tenant, the Capitalist and the Workman, the Planter and the Slave (1836)
Principles of Political Economy (3 volumes, 1837–1840)
The Past, the Present, and the Future (1848)
The Harmony of Interests: Agricultural, Manufacturing and Commercial (1851)
The Slave Trade, Domestic and Foreign: Why It Exists, and How It May Be Extinguished (1853)
Principles of Social Science (3 volumes, 1858–1859) – Considered his magnum opus.
Letters to the President on the Foreign and Domestic Policy of the Union, and its Effects, as Exhibited in the Condition of the People and the State (1858)
The Unity of Law; as Exhibited in the Relations of Physical, Social, Mental and Moral Science (1872)

American School (economics)
American System (economic plan)
Protectionism
Infant industry argument
Mathew Carey
Friedrich List
Alexander Hamilton

Henry Charles Carey (December 15, 1793 – October 13, 1879) was an influential 19th-century American economist and the leading proponent of the "American School" of political economy. He served as chief economic advisor to President Abraham Lincoln. Carey is best known for his strong advocacy of protectionism to foster industrial development, his critique of British classical economics (particularly the theories of David Ricardo and Thomas Malthus), and his optimistic view of human progress and the harmony of economic interests.

Henry Charles Carey was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the eldest son of Mathew Carey (1760–1839), an influential Irish-born economist, political reformer, editor, and publisher. His father was a strong advocate for protective tariffs and internal improvements, ideas that deeply influenced Henry. Carey received his early education largely through his father's extensive library and by working in his father's publishing house, Carey, Lea & Carey, which was one of the most prominent in the United States. He did not attend college but was an avid reader and largely self-taught in economics and social sciences.

In 1814, at the age of 21, Henry C. Carey became a partner in his father's publishing firm. He became the head of the firm in 1821 (renamed Carey & Lea), transforming it into a highly successful enterprise. The firm published works by prominent American authors like Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper, as well as American editions of British authors. He retired from the publishing business in 1835 with a considerable fortune, allowing him to dedicate the rest of his life to the study and writing of political economy and social science.

After retiring from publishing, Carey devoted himself to economic research and writing. He became a prolific author, producing numerous books, pamphlets, and articles. His early works, such as Essay on the Rate of Wages (1835), showed adherence to laissez-faire principles. However, by the 1840s, particularly after observing the effects of the Panic of 1837 and British economic policies, he became a staunch advocate for protectionism.

Carey became a leading intellectual figure in the Whig Party and later the Republican Party. He was a close associate of prominent politicians like Henry Clay and Horace Greeley. During the Civil War, he served as a key economic advisor to President Abraham Lincoln and Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase, strongly influencing the protectionist tariff policies (e.g., the Morrill Tariff) and financial measures adopted by the Union.

Carey's economic system was a direct challenge to the prevailing British classical school, offering an optimistic, nationalistic, and developmentalist alternative.

Carey was the foremost American theorist of protectionism. He argued that free trade, as advocated by British economists, was a tool of British imperial policy designed to keep other nations (like the United States) as mere suppliers of raw materials and consumers of British manufactured goods. He contended that:

Infant Industry Argument: Protective tariffs were necessary to shield nascent American industries from established British competition, allowing them to grow and mature.
National Development: Protectionism would foster a diversified national economy, balancing agriculture with manufacturing and commerce. This would create a robust domestic market, reduce dependence on foreign powers, and increase national wealth and power.
Bringing Consumer and Producer Together: Tariffs would encourage domestic production, reducing transportation costs ("the tax of transportation") and bringing the farmer and the factory worker closer, leading to mutually beneficial exchange.
Higher Wages and Living Standards: A diversified, industrialized economy would create more skilled jobs and lead to higher wages for American workers compared to the "pauper labor" of Europe.

Carey systematically attacked the core tenets of British classical economics, particularly the pessimistic conclusions of Malthus and Ricardo.

Contrary to Thomas Malthus, who argued that population tends to outgrow food supply leading to misery, Carey believed that population growth was a source of strength and progress. He contended that:

Human ingenuity and association increase with population density, leading to greater division of labor, technological innovation, and increased productive power.
The "power of association" allows humans to overcome natural limitations and increase the food supply more rapidly than population growth.

David Ricardo argued that as population grows, less fertile land is brought into cultivation, leading to diminishing returns in agriculture and rising rents for landowners at the expense of capitalists and laborers. Carey inverted this:

He argued that settlers initially cultivate poorer, more accessible lands (e.g., hillsides) and only later, with increased capital and population, move to drain and cultivate richer, more challenging lands (e.g., fertile valleys).
Therefore, agricultural productivity tends to increase over time, not decrease, as human skill and capital are applied to land. Rent, in his view, was primarily a return on capital invested in land improvements.

Carey proposed that the value of a commodity is determined not by the amount of labor originally embodied in it (as in classical labor theory of value) nor by its utility, but by the cost of reproduction – that is, the amount of labor and resources required to produce an identical item at the present time, given current technology and knowledge. This theory accounted for technological progress, which continually reduces the cost of reproducing goods.

A central theme in Carey's work was the "harmony of interests." He believed that, under a proper economic system (i.e., protectionism and national development), the interests of different economic classes (laborers, capitalists, landowners) were not inherently antagonistic, as suggested by some classical economists and later by Marxists. Instead, he argued:

Prosperity for one class would lead to prosperity for all.
Industrialization would benefit agriculture by creating a domestic market for farm products and providing manufactured goods more cheaply.
Rising wages and profits could occur simultaneously as overall productivity increased.

Carey argued that as society progresses and capital accumulates, the share of total output going to labor tends to increase, while the share going to capital (as a percentage) tends to decrease, even though the absolute amount of profit for capitalists might increase due to a larger overall pie. This optimistic view contrasted sharply with the "iron law of wages" and the idea of a falling rate of profit leading to a stationary state.

Carey was a profound optimist regarding human potential and social progress. He believed that human association, facilitated by population growth and economic development, was the key to advancing civilization. He saw history as a movement from dispersion and weakness to concentration, association, and power.

Carey was the most prominent American economist of his time and the intellectual leader of the protectionist movement in the U.S. throughout the mid-to-late 19th century.
His ideas heavily influenced Republican Party platforms and U.S. tariff policy from the Civil War until the early 20th century.
He influenced other economists in the "American School," such as E. Peshine Smith and William Elder, and had an international following, particularly in Germany (where Friedrich List had earlier developed similar ideas) and Japan.
His emphasis on national economic development and the role of the state in fostering industry resonated with developing nations.
While his specific theories (like the cost of reproduction theory of value or his inversion of Ricardian rent) are not widely accepted in mainstream economics today, his arguments for infant industry protection remain a part of debates on trade and development policy.

Critics, particularly free-trade advocates, argued that Carey's protectionism would lead to higher prices for consumers, inefficient allocation of resources, and potential for political corruption (rent-seeking).
Some economists found his theoretical framework less rigorous than that of the classical school he criticized.
His optimistic assumptions about the harmony of interests and the benefits of population growth were seen by some as unrealistic or overlooking potential conflicts and environmental constraints.
His inversion of Ricardian rent theory, while offering an interesting counterpoint, did not fully displace the concept of diminishing marginal returns in specific agricultural contexts.

Essay on the Rate of Wages: With an Examination of the Causes of the Differences in the Condition of the Labouring Population Throughout the World (1835)
The Harmony of Nature, as Exhibited in the Laws Which Regulate the Increase of Population and of the Means of Subsistence; and in the Identity of the Interest of the Sovereign and the Subject, the Landlord and the Tenant, the Capitalist and the Workman, the Planter and the Slave (1836)
Principles of Political Economy (3 volumes, 1837–1840)
The Past, the Present, and the Future (1848)
The Harmony of Interests: Agricultural, Manufacturing and Commercial (1851)
The Slave Trade, Domestic and Foreign: Why It Exists, and How It May Be Extinguished (1853)
Principles of Social Science (3 volumes, 1858–1859) – Considered his magnum opus.
Letters to the President on the Foreign and Domestic Policy of the Union, and its Effects, as Exhibited in the Condition of the People and the State (1858)
The Unity of Law; as Exhibited in the Relations of Physical, Social, Mental and Moral Science (1872)

American School (economics)
American System (economic plan)
Protectionism
Infant industry argument
Mathew Carey
Friedrich List
Alexander Hamilton

Henry Charles Carey (December 15, 1793 – October 13, 1879) was an influential 19th-century American economist and the leading proponent of the "American School" of political economy. He served as chief economic advisor to President Abraham Lincoln. Carey is best known for his strong advocacy of protectionism to foster industrial development, his critique of British classical economics (particularly the theories of David Ricardo and Thomas Malthus), and his optimistic view of human progress and the harmony of economic interests.

Henry Charles Carey was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the eldest son of Mathew Carey (1760–1839), an influential Irish-born economist, political reformer, editor, and publisher. His father was a strong advocate for protective tariffs and internal improvements, ideas that deeply influenced Henry. Carey received his early education largely through his father's extensive library and by working in his father's publishing house, Carey, Lea & Carey, which was one of the most prominent in the United States. He did not attend college but was an avid reader and largely self-taught in economics and social sciences.

In 1814, at the age of 21, Henry C. Carey became a partner in his father's publishing firm. He became the head of the firm in 1821 (renamed Carey & Lea), transforming it into a highly successful enterprise. The firm published works by prominent American authors like Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper, as well as American editions of British authors. He retired from the publishing business in 1835 with a considerable fortune, allowing him to dedicate the rest of his life to the study and writing of political economy and social science.

After retiring from publishing, Carey devoted himself to economic research and writing. He became a prolific author, producing numerous books, pamphlets, and articles. His early works, such as Essay on the Rate of Wages (1835), showed adherence to laissez-faire principles. However, by the 1840s, particularly after observing the effects of the Panic of 1837 and British economic policies, he became a staunch advocate for protectionism.

Carey became a leading intellectual figure in the Whig Party and later the Republican Party. He was a close associate of prominent politicians like Henry Clay and Horace Greeley. During the Civil War, he served as a key economic advisor to President Abraham Lincoln and Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase, strongly influencing the protectionist tariff policies (e.g., the Morrill Tariff) and financial measures adopted by the Union.

Carey's economic system was a direct challenge to the prevailing British classical school, offering an optimistic, nationalistic, and developmentalist alternative.

Carey was the foremost American theorist of protectionism. He argued that free trade, as advocated by British economists, was a tool of British imperial policy designed to keep other nations (like the United States) as mere suppliers of raw materials and consumers of British manufactured goods. He contended that:

Infant Industry Argument: Protective tariffs were necessary to shield nascent American industries from established British competition, allowing them to grow and mature.
National Development: Protectionism would foster a diversified national economy, balancing agriculture with manufacturing and commerce. This would create a robust domestic market, reduce dependence on foreign powers, and increase national wealth and power.
Bringing Consumer and Producer Together: Tariffs would encourage domestic production, reducing transportation costs ("the tax of transportation") and bringing the farmer and the factory worker closer, leading to mutually beneficial exchange.
Higher Wages and Living Standards: A diversified, industrialized economy would create more skilled jobs and lead to higher wages for American workers compared to the "pauper labor" of Europe.

Carey systematically attacked the core tenets of British classical economics, particularly the pessimistic conclusions of Malthus and Ricardo.

Contrary to Thomas Malthus, who argued that population tends to outgrow food supply leading to misery, Carey believed that population growth was a source of strength and progress. He contended that:

Human ingenuity and association increase with population density, leading to greater division of labor, technological innovation, and increased productive power.
The "power of association" allows humans to overcome natural limitations and increase the food supply more rapidly than population growth.

David Ricardo argued that as population grows, less fertile land is brought into cultivation, leading to diminishing returns in agriculture and rising rents for landowners at the expense of capitalists and laborers. Carey inverted this:

He argued that settlers initially cultivate poorer, more accessible lands (e.g., hillsides) and only later, with increased capital and population, move to drain and cultivate richer, more challenging lands (e.g., fertile valleys).
Therefore, agricultural productivity tends to increase over time, not decrease, as human skill and capital are applied to land. Rent, in his view, was primarily a return on capital invested in land improvements.

Carey proposed that the value of a commodity is determined not by the amount of labor originally embodied in it (as in classical labor theory of value) nor by its utility, but by the cost of reproduction – that is, the amount of labor and resources required to produce an identical item at the present time, given current technology and knowledge. This theory accounted for technological progress, which continually reduces the cost of reproducing goods.

A central theme in Carey's work was the "harmony of interests." He believed that, under a proper economic system (i.e., protectionism and national development), the interests of different economic classes (laborers, capitalists, landowners) were not inherently antagonistic, as suggested by some classical economists and later by Marxists. Instead, he argued:

Prosperity for one class would lead to prosperity for all.
Industrialization would benefit agriculture by creating a domestic market for farm products and providing manufactured goods more cheaply.
Rising wages and profits could occur simultaneously as overall productivity increased.

Carey argued that as society progresses and capital accumulates, the share of total output going to labor tends to increase, while the share going to capital (as a percentage) tends to decrease, even though the absolute amount of profit for capitalists might increase due to a larger overall pie. This optimistic view contrasted sharply with the "iron law of wages" and the idea of a falling rate of profit leading to a stationary state.

Carey was a profound optimist regarding human potential and social progress. He believed that human association, facilitated by population growth and economic development, was the key to advancing civilization. He saw history as a movement from dispersion and weakness to concentration, association, and power.

Carey was the most prominent American economist of his time and the intellectual leader of the protectionist movement in the U.S. throughout the mid-to-late 19th century.
His ideas heavily influenced Republican Party platforms and U.S. tariff policy from the Civil War until the early 20th century.
He influenced other economists in the "American School," such as E. Peshine Smith and William Elder, and had an international following, particularly in Germany (where Friedrich List had earlier developed similar ideas) and Japan.
His emphasis on national economic development and the role of the state in fostering industry resonated with developing nations.
While his specific theories (like the cost of reproduction theory of value or his inversion of Ricardian rent) are not widely accepted in mainstream economics today, his arguments for infant industry protection remain a part of debates on trade and development policy.

Critics, particularly free-trade advocates, argued that Carey's protectionism would lead to higher prices for consumers, inefficient allocation of resources, and potential for political corruption (rent-seeking).
Some economists found his theoretical framework less rigorous than that of the classical school he criticized.
His optimistic assumptions about the harmony of interests and the benefits of population growth were seen by some as unrealistic or overlooking potential conflicts and environmental constraints.
His inversion of Ricardian rent theory, while offering an interesting counterpoint, did not fully displace the concept of diminishing marginal returns in specific agricultural contexts.

Essay on the Rate of Wages: With an Examination of the Causes of the Differences in the Condition of the Labouring Population Throughout the World (1835)
The Harmony of Nature, as Exhibited in the Laws Which Regulate the Increase of Population and of the Means of Subsistence; and in the Identity of the Interest of the Sovereign and the Subject, the Landlord and the Tenant, the Capitalist and the Workman, the Planter and the Slave (1836)
Principles of Political Economy (3 volumes, 1837–1840)
The Past, the Present, and the Future (1848)
The Harmony of Interests: Agricultural, Manufacturing and Commercial (1851)
The Slave Trade, Domestic and Foreign: Why It Exists, and How It May Be Extinguished (1853)
Principles of Social Science (3 volumes, 1858–1859) – Considered his magnum opus.
Letters to the President on the Foreign and Domestic Policy of the Union, and its Effects, as Exhibited in the Condition of the People and the State (1858)
The Unity of Law; as Exhibited in the Relations of Physical, Social, Mental and Moral Science (1872)

American School (economics)
American System (economic plan)
Protectionism
Infant industry argument
Mathew Carey
Friedrich List
Alexander Hamilton