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History 19th Century

Economics of J S Mill

by (author) Samuel Hollander

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Oct 1985
Category
19th Century, History & Philosophy, Theory
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802056719
    Publish Date
    Oct 1985
    List Price
    $149.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442674240
    Publish Date
    Oct 1985
    List Price
    $146.00

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Description

J.S. Mill plays a central role in the development of classical political economy in the nineteenth century. Hollander follows the course of that development over fifty years of Mill's career, from the death of David Ricardo in 1823 to Mill's own death in 1873. As in Hollander's acclaimed works on Adam Smith and David Ricardo, this studey emphasizes economic methodology and social philosophy, examined in light of Mill's own preoccupations.

He argues that Mill's methodological principle and practice are consistent from 1830 onwards, a position that disputes currently held opinion. He also demonstrates that Mill denied the predictive ability of economic science, and thereby dismisses as irrelevant the charges of some critics that Mill championed 'scientism.'

Throughout his study, Hollander places Mill within appropriate intellectual contexts. He identifies Mill's debts to Ricardo and to James Mill, examines his reactions to the Cambridge inductivist critics of orthodoxy and to the later 'historical' school writers, and his attitude towards the beginnings of mathematical economics.

The central chapters on theory focus on allocation (including international trade) and economic growth, and the connection between the two. Hollander analyses Mill's remarkable investigation of the process of price formation under competitive and non-competitive conditions and his qualifications to the law of markers and the quantity theory. Other chapters deal with the roles of governments and economic organization, monetary policy, and social philosophy.

Hollander has produced a study that will stand for many years on the economic thought of John Stuart Mill.

About the author

SAMUEL HOLLANDER was appointed Professor in 1970 and University Professor in 1984 in the Department of Economics at the University of Toronto. Amother his other books are The Economics of John Stuart Mill(1985), The Economics of David Ricardo(1979), and The Economics of Adam Smith (1973), all published by University of Toronto Press. He is a Professor Emeritus at Ben-Gurion University.

Samuel Hollander's profile page