Selected Economic Writings

Mill’s writings in this volume, first published in 1966, cover his development as an economist and are an attempt to assess his contribution to classic political economy. Particular attention is paid to the formative but less well-known pre-Benthamite period of his life. The volume opens with a substantial biographical assessment of Mill’s life and work. The selections are specifically divided into four groups consisting of: early economic writings (An Essay of the Impolicy of a Bounty on the Exportation of Grain,” Commerce Defended,” and Smith on Money and Exchange”); James Mill and David Ricardo (Elements of Political Economy”); Mill on scope and method (Whether Political Economy is Useful”); and Mill and India (History of British India”). Donald Winch provides an introduction to each section the contextualizes the essays in Mill’s own work and the economic thought of the time.