Reflecting on discussions in the Political Economy Club, Ricardo had privately expressed his famous opinion about the "non-existence of any measure of absolute value.

[7] In March 1827 McCulloch made a cutting reply on the front page of his Edinburgh newspaper, The Scotsman,[8] implying that Malthus wanted to dictate terms and theories to other economists.

This motivation of Malthus's work was disregarded by McCulloch, who responded that there was nothing to be gained "by carping at definitions, and quibbling about the meaning to be attached to" words.

McCulloch's theoretical work received harsh criticism from Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk in the latter's History and Critique of Interest Theories (1884).

Although such examples may prove that the mere passage of time is not enough of a change to produce an increase of value, that hardly helps the labour theory of value.