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

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.

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.