Of Parliament. He was an extraordinarily prolific writer, especially when it is remembered that

he had a full-time job. His reputation was made by his A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive,

Being a Connected View of the Principles of Evidence and the Methods of Scientific Investigation.

which was published in 1843. His essay On Liberty appeared in 1859, and his Examination of Sir

William Hamilton’s Philosophy in 1865. His two most important works on economics are Essays on

Some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy (which came out in 1844, though he actually wrote

it in 1829 when he was only twenty-three) and Principles of Political Economy with Some of Their

Applications to Social Philosophy (1848). The latter was intended to be a comprehensive review of

the field of economic theory at the time, and was, in fact, an up-to-date version of Adam Smith’s

Wealth of Nations. It succeeded so well that it remained the basic textbook for students of economics

Until the end of the century. The work is regarded as the apogee of the classical school of Adam

Smith, Ricardo, Malthus and Say. Mill himself said the book had nothing in it that was original,

And indeed it is basically an eclectic work, intended simply to bring together the works of others.

However, it is not true to say that Mill lacked originality altogether. He analysed the forces

Which lead to increasing returns to scale, arguing that as a result there will be a tendency for industries