He was one of the pioneers of the marginalist revolution and opponent to the Institutionalist school of economics, and spent most of his career as a professor at Columbia University.

[3] Early in his career Clark's writings reflected his German Socialist background and showed him as a critic of capitalism.

During his time as a professor at Columbia University however, his views gradually shifted to support of capitalism and he later became known as a leading advocate of the capitalist system.

There he formulated an original version of marginal utility theory, principle already published by Jevons (1871), Menger (1871), and Walras (1878).

Until 1886 Clark was a Christian socialist reflecting the view of his German teachers that competition is no universal remedy – especially not for fixing wages.

[6] This view on fair wages changed in 1886: "Clark himself, it will be remembered has song down the doom of competition in The Philosophy of Wealth.

By the time he wrote The Distribution of Wealth he was convinced that pure competition was the natural and normal law by which the economic order obtained justice.

Frank Fetter later reflected on Bates' motivation for writing this work: The probable source from which immediate stimulation came to Clark was the contemporary single tax discussion.

The political message of this theorem is: "[W]hat a social class gets is, under natural law, what it contributes to the general output of industry.

It is an abstract, always existing and never perishing one great tool in the hand of working humanity[19] similar to a field or a waterfall, also considered capital by Clark.