RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Revisiting Land, Labor and Capital in Neoclassical Economics
JF Land Economics
JO Land Econ
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 021225-0009
DO 10.3368/le.101.4.021225-0009
A1 Missemer, Antoine
A1 Pottier, Antonin
YR 2025
UL http://le.uwpress.org/content/early/2025/05/23/le.101.4.021225-0009.abstract
AB It is usually argued that the advent of neoclassical economics led to the consideration of only two factors of production (capital and labor) instead of three (capital, labor and land). From the 1880s to the 1920s, land and natural resources would have been marginalized and left to applied fields such as land economics. This article revisits this episode. Theoretically speaking, it shows that there was no requirement in marginal productivity theories to subsume land into capital. Historically speaking, it demonstrates that alternatives did exist, within American neoclassicism, to the neglect of land and natural resources, providing inspiration for today’s research.