James Mill, John Stuart Mill, and the History of Economic Thought

by Masatomi Fujimoto (Editor), John Vint (Editor), Taro Hisamatsu (Editor)

Overview

Commemorating the 250th anniversary of James Mill’s birth and the 150th of John Stuart Mill’s death, this volume analyses the Mills’ discussions on topics such as environment, cultivation, education, utilitarianism, socialism, international relations, international trade, and living standard.

John Stuart Mill is an important figure of the classical political economy, and his father played a critical role in the early stages of his intellectual development. The contributions of the two Mills are examined by leading scholars on the theory and history of economics from Japan, UK, and France. They not only deal with the Mills’ individual contributions but also shed light on their relationships and associations with a number of economists and philosophers in Britain between the late 18th and the early 20th centuries, including Adam Smith, Malthus, Ricardo, Pennington, Torrens, Martineau, Longfield, Morris, Sidgwick, and Marshall.

This book is an essential read for scholars interested in the economics of James and John Mill, and reconsideration of their theories and thoughts using the backdrop of the current state of society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032543796
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/27/2025
Series:	Routledge Studies in the History of Economics
Pages:	262
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Masatomi Fujimoto is Professor at the Faculty of Economics, Osaka Gakuin University, Japan. He edited Ricardo and International Trade (with Shigeyoshi Senga and Taichi Tabuchi, Routledge, 2017).

John Vint is Emeritus Professor at Manchester Metropolitan University and Honorary Professor at Perm State University, Russia. In 1993 he won the Joseph Dorfman Award for the best dissertation in the History of Economic Thought. His book Capital and Wages was published in 1994.

Taro Hisamatsu is Professor at the Faculty of Commerce, Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan. His articles have appeared in The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, History of Economics Review, The Adam Smith Review, History of Economic Ideas, etc.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

List of figures

List of tables

List of contributors

Introduction

MASATOMI FUJIMOTO, JOHN VINT,

AND TARO HISAMATSU

PART I

Cultivation and Education

1 John Stuart Mill and the Stationary State

GREGORY CLAEYS

2 James and John Stuart Mill on Education

RENEE PRENDERGAST

PART II

Utilitarianism

3 The Felicific Calculus and the Art of Life according to James and John Stuart Mill

VICTOR BIANCHINI

4 John Stuart Mill, Sidgwick and the Philosophical Foundations of Political Economy

DAISUKE NAKAI

PART III

International Relations and Trade

5 John Stuart Mill on Britain’s Dependencies: Focusing on its Military Expenditure in the Nineteenth Century

YOSHIFUMI OZAWA

6 ‘I profess to have made no discovery’: James Mill on Comparative Advantage

GILBERT FACCARELLO

7 James Mill and the Alleged Error in Ricardo

TARO HISAMATSU

8 John Stuart Mill as the Founder of Theory of Reciprocal Demand

MASATOMI FUJIMOTO

PART IV

Work and Life

9 The Wage Theory of John Stuart Mill in Light of Malthus and Ricardo

SYUNSUKE MOROIZUMI & MASASHI IZUMO

10 Alfred Marshall’s Acceptance and Deviation from John Stuart Mill

MASASHI KONDO

11 James Mill, John Stuart Mill and Harriet Martineau: Connections, Disconnections and Convergence

JOHN VINT

12 John Stuart Mill’s ‘Qualified Socialism’

HELEN MCCABE