Whewell's "Translation" of J. S. Mill

John Creedy

Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 1989, vol. 36, issue 3, 266-81

Abstract: This paper examines William Whewell's mathematical model of John Stuart Mill's analysis of international trade contained in his Principles. Several authors have argued that Whewell simply "translated" Mill into mathematics and that his analysis was marred by a mathematical error concerning the use of inequalities. But it is shown that no such error was committed. Whewell is shown to have provided a significant extension to Mill's analysis. It is argued that Mill's "supplementary sections" in fact represent an attempt by Mill to translate some of Whewell's results into nonmathematical language. However, Whewell's demand system is seen to impose a severe constraint to further developments of this model. Copyright 1989 by Scottish Economic Society.

Date: 1989
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