ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Ideology and Contributions of J.S. Mill in Economics

Updated on November 5, 2015
icv profile image

IRSHAD CV has been a student in Economics. Now he is doing Masters in Economics. He completed B.A. Economics from the University of Calicut.

JS Mill
JS Mill | Source

John Stuart Mill was a greatest and a last economist belonged to the classical economic thought. He had showed his fame in different fields like languages, mathematics, politics etc. He was also a great social reformer of that time. He served as a parliamentarian during 1858-68. His father James Mill was also an economist. The classical school of economic thought came in to its end almost by the name of J.S Mill. His base for developing economic ideas was the influence of Adam Smith and Ricardo. He popularized doctrines of classical economics. Along with that, JS Mill developed some ideas and contributed much to economics. His major works includes in many disciplines as mentioned below.

i) System of Logic (1843)

ii) Essays on Some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy (1844)

iii) Principles of Political Economy (1848)

iv) On Liberty (1853)

v) Subjection of Women (1864)

J.S Mill was one of the greatest and the final classical economist, who tried to popularise economic ideas of classicals and along with that he contributed hisown ideas to economics

Main Ideas of J.S Mill

J.S Mill was an analytical economist, who believed in most of the classical economists’ doctrines like principle of utility of Jeremy Bentham, laissez-faire, free competition, rent theory of Ricardo, Population theory of Malthus. At the same time, he modified some of the concepts of classical economists. Five main areas of his writings include production, distribution, exchange, influence of government and influence of social progress on production and distribution. Following words provided a brief note on main ideas of J.S Mill.

i) Free Competition

J.S Mill believed in laissez-faire system. Because of that the classical economists gave more importance on individual freedom. Each person is doing their economic actions by influencing their own interests. So he supported free competition and was against restrictions from the part of government.

ii) On Value

J.S Mill’s value concept was almost similar to the idea of Ricardo. According to him value of a commodity is determined by the value in use and the value in exchange. Further, he also highlights the influence of quantity of labor involved for the production in the value determination. In the case of certain commodities, which cannot increase in supply like old coins, art works etc, the value will be determined by the force of demand and supply. It will be based on automatic adjustment in price.

iii) Rent

J.S Mill’s idea on rent is connected to Ricardo’s theory of rent. That is rent is the differentiated surplus which is depending on the fertility of the soil. Rent will be higher in high fertile land. He also says that, rent arose as monopoly reward to landlords as mentioned by Adam Smith.

iv) Harmony of Interest

J.S Mill believed in the same concept of self love developed by Adam Smith and hedonistic based utilitarianism concept of Jeremy Bentham. Each and every person of the society will wanted to get maximum benefits from their own economic actions. And the social harmony will come in to existence by aggregating each individual happiness.

v) Profit

J.S Mill believed that profit as the reward for risk for the entrepreneur. Profit will be that amount after paying wages. So, there exists an inverse relationship between profit and wages. Profit will be higher when wage is lesser and profit will be lesser when wage is higher.

vi) Wages

J.S Mill believed that, wage rate will be determined by demand and supply. Demand for labor is the factor come from the part of producer and it will depend on the quantity of wage-fund available in the hands of producers. On the other side supply for labor is depending on the size of population. In short, Mill says that wage will be determined by the forces of demand and supply. He used the wage-fund principle to explain wage determination in his own words.

vii) Population

Mill’s view on population is connected to the Malthusian theory of population. That is he was against growth in population. He focused on the possibility of over population. Later Malthusian theory of population criticized at large. Because some of the criticizers say that, there is no need to bother about over population. Because a new birth means not only a single mouth but also two hands. But Mill challenged this criticism by saying that, new hands will never produce more than the old ones.

viii) International Trade

Mill’s view on international trade is almost similar to the Ricardo’s view of international trade. He believed that international trade is possible through the theory of comparative cost of Ricardo. And he is not focusing on absolute cost theory of Adam Smith. Further he also mentioned the equilibrium condition of two countries in international trade. To him the equilibrium condition will be at a point where the exports of a country equal to the imports.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)