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The future of the working classes: a comparison between J.S. Mill and A. Marshall

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  • Arrigo Opocher

Abstract

Both J. S. Mill and A. Marshall had a lifelong interest in the living conditions of the working classes and theorized the possibility of a new age, characterized by a widespread mental and moral cultivation. This paper compares the precise arguments put forward by them in the period ranging from Mill's to Marshall's Principles, against the background of the evidence of social and human progress at their times. It is argued that, at different stages and with different specific arguments, their predictions relied on self-reinforcing mechanisms, in which a better life was the cause, no less than the effect, of progress. In order to make similarities and differences more transparent from a logical point of view, two simple mathematical formulations are proposed.

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  • Arrigo Opocher, 2010. "The future of the working classes: a comparison between J.S. Mill and A. Marshall," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 229-253.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:eujhet:v:17:y:2010:i:2:p:229-253
    DOI: 10.1080/09672561003718649
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    1. Peter Groenewegen, 1995. "A SOARING EAGLE: Alfred Marshall 1842–1924," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 193.
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    1. Arrigo Opocher, 2010. "Measuring productivity increase by long-run prices: the early analyses of G.R. Porter and R. Giffen," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(5), pages 1271-1291.
    2. Opocher, Arrigo, 2009. "A Dual-Solovian Measure of Productivity Increase and its Early Antecedents," MPRA Paper 15541, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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