Ellis’s Later Works

Abstract

As noted above, the later works of William Ellis do not substantially add to or alter the economic doctrines he had presented in the 1835 lectures. Though he wrote extensively beginning in 1846, and almost all of his books, pamphlets and articles were concerned with economics or with how economics should be taught in schools, his works were mainly intended as teaching aids or as a means to popularize orthodox classical economics. He did not attempt to bring forward new economic theory or to seriously analyze existing theory. Ellis did attempt, however, to shift the focus of economics to make it a moral science that was the concern of all people, including young children, rather than a science that could only be understood by the middle and upper classes. This was accomplished primarily through his presentation of the material and the degree of emphasis he afforded certain topics. This chapter will examine Ellis’s later works, showing how he shifted the emphasis of his economics.