The Economics of John Stuart Mill

Stephen J. Kees was Chief Librarian, Niagara College of Applied Arts and Technology, Welland, Ontario.

These volumes form the third work in the series Studies in Classical Political Economy, all written by this author who is University Professor and Professor of Economics at the University of Toronto. Volume I is subtitled “Theory and Method” and Volume 2, “Political Economy.”

Despite the detraction of some critics, John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) remains as one of the most influential and respected political economists of the nineteenth century. Following his work on Ricardo, the author begins this text by describing Mill’s intellectual debt to Ricardo and proceeds to relate all Mill’s work to the appropriate intellectual context. Mill’s Principles of Political Economy (1st ed. 1848) is considered in detail as well as his other theories in related areas. In Volume 2 the emphasis is on consideration of more practical areas such as banking and economic policy in social organization.

Throughout the work there are extensive foot — notes as well as a large bibliography of references, all showing evidence of a great deal of research and understanding of the whole area of the subject matter.

These volumes are not meant for casual reading, but neither are those of the subject author. They are, however, likely to become a standard reference source when the theories of the classical economists are under discussion.