Essays on Some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy

John Stuart Mill was born in London in 1806 and educated at home by his father, the philosopher James Mill, in a programme so demanding that it became famous in its own right. He went on to become one of the leading liberal thinkers of the nineteenth century, writing on logic, politics, ethics and economics until his death in 1873. The five essays heard here were composed when he was still a young man and were published in 1844. They are his first work on political economy.

The essays deal with unsettled questions in the sense that the economists of his day had not agreed on the answers. They cover the laws of exchange between nations, the influence of consumption on production, the definition of productive labour, and the relation between profit and interest. They also lay the ground for the much larger Principles of Political Economy, which appeared a few years later and became the standard English-language textbook on the subject for decades.

Mill's argument is easier to follow by ear than one might expect, because he writes in short, orderly steps and states each conclusion clearly. The recording is a pleasant way to meet the early thought of a writer who later shaped modern liberal ideas, and to see how he built them.

The recording lasts about five and a half hours and is divided into twelve parts, including a preface and contents, all read by a single LibriVox volunteer. The prose is dense but orderly, and it rewards a slow, attentive listen. Today it remains of interest to anyone curious about the history of economic ideas, and about how one of the great Victorian thinkers began to work out his views.