3 Review(s)

John Stuart Mill’s Principles of Political Economy was one of the most widely read of all books on economics in its period. Accepted as standard textbook for over 150 years, the book systematically demonstrates how the important economic concepts can be applied to real-world situations. Shifting focus to realism, Mill took economics out of the realm of the abstract and placed it within the context of society. The objective of the book as Mill himself stated was “to unite the greatest individual liberty of action, with a common ownership of the raw material of the globe, and an equal participation of all in the benefits of combined labour”. Mill intended the book to be a survey of contemporary economic thought as well as an exploration of application of economic ideas to social concerns. Greatly influenced by the works of David Ricardo, taking some ideas from Adam Smith and Thomas Malthus, J.S. Mill was able to weave together the diverse elements of classical economics into a unified body of doctrines, and in doing so he demonstrated his brilliance as a thinker and writer.