Political Economy (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Excerpt from Political Economy

Secondly, The confounding the science Of Political Economy with the Sciences and Arts, to which it is subservient, has seduced Econo mists sometimes to undertake inquiries too vague to lead to any practical results, and sometimes to pursue the legitimate objects of the science by means unfit for their attainment. To their extended view of the objects Of Political Economy is to be attributed the undue importance which many Economists have ascribed to the col lection of facts, and their neglect of the far more important process Of reasoning accurately from the facts before them. We are con stantly told that it is a science of facts and experiment, a science acide ale fails. The practical applications of it, like the practical applications of every other science, without doubt, require the col lection and examination Of facts to an almost indefinite extent. The facts collected as materials for the amendment of the poor-laws, and the opening of the trade to China, fill more than twice as many volumes as could be occupied by all the treatises that have ever been written on Political Economy 5 but the facts on which the general principles Of the science rest may be stated in a very few sentences, and indeed in a very few words. But that the reasoning from these facts, the drawing from them correct conclusions, is a matter of great difficulty, may be inferred from the imperfect state in which the science is now found after it has been so long and so intensely studied.

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This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Political Economy

Definition of the Science. - We propose in the following treatise to give an outline of the science which treats of the Nature, the Production, and the Distribution of Wealth. To that science we give the name of Political Economy. Our readers must be aware that that term has often been used in a much wider sense. The earlier writers who assumed the name of Political Economists avowedly treated not of Wealth but of Government. Mercier de la Riviere entitled his work The Natural and Essential Organization of Society, and professed to propose an organization "which shall necessarily produce all the happiness that can be enjoyed on earth." Sir James Steuart states, that "the principal object of the science is to secure a certain fund of subsistence for all the inhabitants, to obviate every circumstance which may render it precarious, and to provide everything necessary for supplying the wants of the society." The modern continental writers have in general entered into an equally extensive inquiry. "Political Economy," says M. Storch, "is the science of the natural laws which determine the prosperity of nations, that is to say, their wealth and their civilization." M. Sismondi considers "the physical welfare of man, so far as it can be the work of government, as the object of Political Economy." "Political Economy," says M. Say, "is the economy of society; a science combining the results of our observations on the nature and functions of the different parts of the social body." The modern writers of the English school have in general professed to limit their attention to the theory of Wealth; but some of the most eminent among them, after having expressed their intention to confine themselves within what appears to us to be their proper province, have invaded that of the general legislator or the statesman.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.