Abstract
Early 19th-century English political economists divided on method. Some, Senior among them, favoured Smith’s approach: observe behaviour and try to tie it to likely motives. Others, such as Ricardo and the Mills, preferred to build models based on strong assumptions, then qualify the conclusions while still insisting on their basic truth. On policy questions, and on the basic motives behind economic behaviour, they often agreed, but Smith’s approach allowed for more than one answer to questions such as: what is value? Much ink was spilt and much muddle resulted, clarification (on value) being achieved only with Jevons and Marshall.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Bowley, M. 1937. Nassau senior and classical economics. London: Allen & Unwin.
Cairnes, J.E. 1874. Some leading principles of political economy newly expounded. London: Macmillan.
De Marchi, N., and R.P. Sturges. 1973. Malthus’ and Ricardo’s inductivist critics: Four letters to William Whewell. Economica 40: 379–393.
Hollander, S. 1985. The economics of John Stuart Mill, 2 vols. Oxford: Blackwell.
Hutchison, T.W. 1938. The significance and basic postulates of economic theory. London: Macmillan.
Johnson, O. 1969. The ‘last hour’ of Senior and Marx. History of Political Economy 1: 359–369.
Levy, S.L. (ed.). 1928. Industrial efficiency and social economy by Nassau W. Senior, 2 vols. New York: Henry Holt & Co.
Marx, K. 1905–10. Theories of surplus values, 3 vols. London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1969; 1972.
Mill, J.S. 1848. Principles of political economy with some of their applications to social philosophy. In Collected works of John Stuart Mill, vols. 2 and 3, ed. J.M. Robson. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1965.
Ricardo, D. 1822. On protection to agriculture. In The works and correspondence of David Ricardo, vol. 4, ed. P. Sraffa with the collaboration of M.H. Dobb. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press for the Royal Economic Society, 1951.
Stigler, G.J. 1949. The classical economists: An alternative view. In Five lectures on economic problems. London: Longmans, Green for the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
De Marchi, N. (2018). Senior, Nassau William (1790–1864). In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_1795
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_1795
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95188-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95189-5
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences