''Essays on Some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy'' (1844) is a treatise on

political economics Political economy is the study of how economic systems (e.g. markets and national economies) and political systems (e.g. law, institutions, government) are linked. Widely studied phenomena within the discipline are systems such as labour mar ...

John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, Member of Parliament (MP) and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of classical liberalism, he contributed widely to ...

Walras' law Walras's law is a principle in general equilibrium theory asserting that budget constraints imply that the ''values'' of excess demand (or, conversely, excess market supplies) must sum to zero regardless of whether the prices are general equilib ...

, a principle in

general equilibrium theory In economics, general equilibrium theory attempts to explain the behavior of supply, demand, and prices in a whole economy with several or many interacting markets, by seeking to prove that the interaction of demand and supply will result in an ov ...

named in honour of

Léon Walras Marie-Esprit-Léon Walras (; 16 December 1834 – 5 January 1910) was a French mathematical economist and Georgist. He formulated the marginal theory of value (independently of William Stanley Jevons and Carl Menger) and pioneered the developmen ...

, was first expressed by Mill in this treatise.

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

remarked of the work, “The few original ideas of Mill Junior are contained in this narrow little volume, not in his fat, pedantic ''magnum opus''.” The significance of this contribution of Mill has been analyzed by Manicas (1987) in his ''History & Philosophy of the Social Sciences'' as follows: :When Adam Smith published his work on The Wealth of Nations, 'political economy' referred to 'the art or practical science of managing the resources of nations, so as to increase its material wealth'. Smith conceived his project holistically and as substantially practical, not analytical. Successors of Smith accepted the broad outlines of his definition, but were concerned with transforming this historical and qualitative effort into a “science”. But where would the “laws” of this science come from? Mill provided a critical step towards the modern conception of the science of economics. He settled this “unsettled” question in his definition of economics as "The science which treats of the production and distribution of wealth, so far as they depend upon the laws of human nature." The "science" would come from the 'laws of human nature' which 'appertain to man as a mere individual'. They 'form a part of the subject of pure mental philosophy'. There are other 'principles of human nature which are peculiarly connected with the ideas and feelings generated in man by living in a state of society'. These laws 'form the subject of a branch of science which may be aptly designated from the title of social economy, somewhat less happily by that of speculative politics, or the science of politics ...'. Mill settled the "unsettled" questions by clarifying that political economy proceeded from principles of human nature, that it was abstract and deductive, and significantly, that it had an autonomous subject-matter – the laws of 'the economy'.

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* 1844 books Books by John Stuart Mill Political books 1844 in economics {{polisci-book-stub

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