Question

How did the Political Economy of the Mills differ from that of the other Classical Political Economists? Be explicit about the purpose of PE, socialism (and Utopian Socialist ideas), the trajectory of capitalism, the stationary state, and inequality (class, gender and race).

Answer 1

The Political Economy comprises of the study of economic theories such as trade, custom, production, laws of trade, national income and its distribution, etc. It seeks the impact of capitalist and communist form of governmental effects on an economy as well and briefs how history, culture/tradition and customs affect an economic system as a whole.

John Stuart Mill an english economist brought about an addition and somewhat change in the principles of political economies made by the classical school of economists.

The classical theory of political economics did not took the theory of value perpective in terms of prices, but only took it in terms of demand and supply measures and terms of trade.

On the contrary, Mills worked on the subject of international values in terms of trade. He also mentioned in his book "Principles of Political Economy", the difference between money quantity and price. He also emphasized on the -

- distribution of revenue and profits of international trade,

- the affects of consumption on the level of production,

- defined productive and unproductive workforce, and

- the relationship between profits earned and wage distribution.

Other than the classical economists Mill tried to develop a relation between social and political scenarios of an economy. He worked for the welfare of labour class through his production and distribution of income theory. He condemned the exploitation and suppression of labour class and promoted distribution of income and wages as per profits and gains out of production.