The purpose of this blog is to make accessible the notes I have taken on various texts of political economy. I will be beginning with classical political economy, including its vulgarizers, before moving to its critique. The blog will largely pivot around quotes, since the authors’ words are far superior to my own for this purpose, and, as one person pointed out, this would make the blog especially attractive for scholarly purposes given that Wikipedia and Sparknotes already exist.

For books, I will divide the blog postings by chapter, or, where necessary, section. Shorter works like essays or articles will receive one post. Postings will be made Sunday afternoons, though the only guarantee for a post is my personal interest in the material which may falter under the weight of other obligations. The first post will probably be made in a couple weeks because I have to finish a book I’m reading and some of the books need to arrive in the mail.

These notes will not necessarily be critical. First, I do not claim to have the expertise necessary for me to attempt to put forward my own views, and second, this will be done by a much more intelligent author when we review the history of economic thought found within the Theories of Surplus-Value. In fact, the only text here that I have read thus far is Smith’s Wealth of Nations. Whatever I post comes with the caveat that I am an amateur.

These are the readings on classical political economy, which I have divided into various groupings:

The Pre-Smithian Triumvirate (And Hume):

Petty: Treatise on Taxes

Petty: Political Arithmetic

Petty: Quantulumcunque Concerning Money

Locke: Consequences of the Lowering of Interest and the Raising the Value of Money

North: Discourse on Trade

Massie: Natural Rate of Interest

Hume: (Economic) Essays

Systematic Political Economy:

Cantillon: Essay on the Nature of Trade

Quesnay: Tableau Economique & Analysis

Steuart: An Inquiry into the Principles of Political Economy

Turgot: Reflections on the Formation and Distribution of Wealth

Smith: The Wealth of Nations

Mr. Malthus on Population:

Malthus: Essay on the Principle of Population [1st Edition, Chapters 1-7, 15-17]

Smithianism Good and Bad & The Bullion Debate:

Bentham: In Defense of Usury

Malthus: High Price of Provisions

James Mill: Essay on the Impolicy of a Bounty on the Export of Grain

Boyd: Letter to Pitt

Baring: Observations on the Publication of Walter Boyd

Thornton: Inquiry into the Nature and Effects of the Paper Credit of Great Britain

Horner: Review of Thornton

King: Thoughts on the Restriction of Payments

Horner: Review of King

Wheatley: Remarks on Currency and Commerce

Jenkinson: A Treatise on the Coin of the Realm

Wheatley: Essay, Volume One

Spence: England Without Commerce

Mill: Commerce Defended

Mill: Review of Smith on Money and Exchange

Ricardo: High Price of Bullion: Proof of Devaluation

The Bullion Report

Bosanquet: Practical Observations on the Bullion Report [1st Edition]

Ricardo: Mr. Bosanquet’s Objections

Bosanquet: Second Edition Supplement

Ricardo: Appendix to Mr. Bosanquet’s Objections

Malthus: Depreciation of Paper Currency

Ricardo: Appendix to The High Price of Bullion

Say: Treatise on Political Economy

The Ricardian School & The General Glut Controversy:

Malthus: Observations on the Corn Laws

Malthus: Nature of Rent

Malthus: Grounds of an Opinion on Restricting the Import of Corn

Ricardo: Essay on Profits

Ricardo: Proposals for a Sound Currency

Barton: Observations on the Circumstances Which Influence the Condition of the Labouring Classes

Ricardo: Principles of Political Economy

Sismondi: New Principles of Political Economy

Malthus: Principles of Political Economy

Ricardo: Notes to Malthus’ Principles [Chapter VII]

Say: Letters to Malthus

Barton: An Inquiry into the Causes of the Progressive Depreciation of Agricultural Labour

Ricardo: On Protection to Agriculture

Torrens: Essay on the Production of Wealth

James Mill: Elements of Political Economy [1st Edition]

Anonymous: An Inquiry into those Principles Lately Advocated by Mr. Malthus

Disintegration and Vulgarization of Classical Political Economy (And the Debate Continued):

De Quincy: Dialogue of the Three Templars

Bailey: A Critical Dissertation on Value

McCulloch: Principles of Political Economy [2nd Edition]

Read: Political Economy

Senior: Lectures on Population

Senior: Lectures on Wages

Tooke: Considerations on the State of the Currency

Senior: Lectures on the Cost of Obtaining Money

Chalmers: On Political Economy

Scrope: Dr. Chalmers on Political Economy

Scrope: Principles of Political Economy

Wakefield: England and America

Senior: An Outline of the Science of Political Economy [1st Edition]

Mill: Comments on Senior

Ramsay: An Essay on the Distribution of Wealth

Carey: Principles of Political Economy, Part One

Bastiat: Economic Sophisms & What is Seen and Not Seen

Bastiat: Economic Harmonies

Money, Credit, and Prices:

J.S. Mill: Essays on Some Unsettled Questions in Political Economy

Gilbart: History and Practice of Banking [3rd Edition]

Tooke: History of Prices, Volumes One-Three

Tooke: An Inquiry into the Currency Principle

Torrens: Refutation of the Fallacies Advanced by Mr. Tooke

J.S. Mill: The Currency Question

Fullarton: On the Regulation of Currencies

Tooke & Newmarch: History of Prices, Volumes Four-Six

MacLeod: Theory and Practice of Banking [2nd Edition]

The Final Stand (And More on Gold):

Cairnes: The Character and Logical Method of Political Economy [1st Edition]

J.S. Mill: Principles of Political Economy [5th Edition]

Chevalier: On the Probable Fall in the Value of Gold

Fawcett: Manual of Political Economy [4th Edition, Book II Chapters 9-12, Book III Chapter 15 & Book IV Chapter 5-7]

Cairnes: Essays in Political Economy

Cairnes: Some Leading Principles of Political Economy Newly Founded

Bagehot: Lombard Street

Juglar: Panics in the United States

It may be objected that the final texts included are questionable since classical political economy at this point had, as the above section indicates, been vulgarized and disintegrated; Cairnes all the moreso given he was writing after both the appearance of Marx’s critique and what was then called ‘final utility’ theory, and there is indeed a strange, almost sad, irony in reading him dismiss a certain Professor Jevons as a marginal figure. I must confess that this is mostly out of curiosity and because I own a physical copy of J.S. Mill’s Principles. But the texts on gold might be of interest in providing a more solid foundation for our later readings on Die Teuerung and the monetary crisis of the 60s-70s and the Great ‘Stagflation’.

Altogether I do not imagine that these readings are going to take less than a year, so it’s certainly a daunting task. But with renewed interest in classical political economy — exemplified by the recent publication of the textbooks of Anwar Shaikh and Tsaliki & Tsoulfidis — and my own awakening interest, this seems to me a worthwhile endeavor.