Principles of Political Economy: Abridged with Critical, Bibliographical, and Explanatory Notes, and a Sketch of the History of Political Economy — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Principles of Political Economy: Abridged with Critical, Bibliographical, and Explanatory Notes, and a Sketch of the History of Political Economy
John Stuart Mill · en
It will be noticed that political economy does not include ethics,
legislation, or the science of government. The results of
political economy are offered to the statesman, who reaches a
conclusion after weighing them in connection with moral and
political considerations. Political Economy is distinct from
Sociology; although it is common to include in the former
everything which concerns social life. Some writers distinguish
between the pure, or abstract science, and the applied art, and we
can speak of a science of political economy only in the sense of a
body of abstract laws or formulas. This, however, does not make
political economy less practical than physics, for, after a
principle is ascertained, its operation is to be observed in the
same way that we study the force of gravitation in a falling
stone, even when retarded by opposing forces. An economic force,
or tendency, can be likewise distinctly observed, although other
influences, working at the same time, prevent the expected effect
from following its cause. It is, in short, the aim of political
economy to investigate the laws which govern the phenomena of
material wealth. (Cf. Cossa, “Guide,” chap. iii.)
While the [Mercantile] system prevailed, it was assumed, either expressly
or tacitly, in the whole policy of nations, that wealth consisted solely
of money; or of the precious metals, which, when not already in the state
of money, are capable of being directly converted into it. According to
the doctrines then prevalent, whatever tended to heap up money or bullion
in a country added to its wealth.
More correctly the Mercantilists (in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries) held that where money was most plentiful, there would
be found the greatest abundance of the necessaries of life.(100)