Political Economy Club
Encyclopedia
The Political Economy Club was founded by James Mill
and a circle of friends in 1821 in London
, for the purpose of coming to an agreement on the fundamental principles of political economy
. David Ricardo
, James Mill
, Thomas Malthus
(the only one holding an academic post at the time), and Robert Torrens
were among the original luminaries.
In the early 19th century there were no academic societies or professional associations for economists. The Political Economy Club was a way to establish a scientific community, test ideas, and provide peer review for their work.
, John Stuart Mill
, John Ramsey McCulloch, Nassau Senior, John Elliott Cairnes
, Henry Fawcett
, William Newmarch
, Samuel Jones-Loyd, 1st Baron Overstone
, William Newmarch
, Jane Marcet
, George Ward Norman, William Blake, and Jean-Baptiste Say
.
Later: William Stanley Jevons
, Thomas Edward Cliffe Leslie
, Walter Coulson, Robert Mushet
, Henry Parnell , James Pennington, John Horsley Palmer
, and Thomas Perronet Thompson
. Others were drawn from outside the ranks of economists, including G. G. de Larpent, George John Shaw-Lefevre, John Abel Smith, Henry Warburton
, Lord Althorp, William Whitmore, W. B. Baring, Poulett Thomson
, Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton
, Lord Monteagle
, Charles Hay Cameron, J. D. Hume, George Grote
, James Morrison, Edwin Chadwick
, Sir Robert Giffen, Charles Buller
, and Sir William Clay.
Significant elections after 1840 include Robert Lowe
, Sir G. C. Lewis, Rowland Hill
, Stafford Northcote, George J. Goschen, William Ewart Gladstone
, and W. E. Forster
.
, Peter Jay
, Charles Dumas and Tim Congdon
. The Club now meets on a monthly basis in the Royal Automobile Club
to hear papers presented by members of the club and a discussion over dinner.
James Mill
James Mill was a Scottish historian, economist, political theorist, and philosopher. He was a founder of classical economics, together with David Ricardo, and the father of influential philosopher of classical liberalism, John Stuart Mill.-Life:Mill was born at Northwater Bridge, in the parish of...
and a circle of friends in 1821 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, for the purpose of coming to an agreement on the fundamental principles of political economy
Political economy
Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...
. David Ricardo
David Ricardo
David Ricardo was an English political economist, often credited with systematising economics, and was one of the most influential of the classical economists, along with Thomas Malthus, Adam Smith, and John Stuart Mill. He was also a member of Parliament, businessman, financier and speculator,...
, James Mill
James Mill
James Mill was a Scottish historian, economist, political theorist, and philosopher. He was a founder of classical economics, together with David Ricardo, and the father of influential philosopher of classical liberalism, John Stuart Mill.-Life:Mill was born at Northwater Bridge, in the parish of...
, Thomas Malthus
Thomas Malthus
The Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus FRS was an English scholar, influential in political economy and demography. Malthus popularized the economic theory of rent....
(the only one holding an academic post at the time), and Robert Torrens
Robert Torrens (economist)
Colonel Robert Torrens was a Royal Marines officer, political economist, MP, owner of the influential Globe newspaper and prolific writer.Born in Ireland, son of Protestant Robert Torrens of Hervey Hill....
were among the original luminaries.
In the early 19th century there were no academic societies or professional associations for economists. The Political Economy Club was a way to establish a scientific community, test ideas, and provide peer review for their work.
Discussions
The participants soon found substantial difficulties in formulating and reaching agreement on their fundamental propositions. Ricardo felt that none of their views was safe from criticism. Reflecting on their theoretical discussions in 1823, Ricardo privately expressed his famous opinion about the "non-existence of any measure of absolute value."Participants
Ricardo, Malthus, James Mill, Torrens, Thomas TookeThomas Tooke
Thomas Tooke was an English economist known for writing on money and his work on economic statistics. After Tooke's death the Statistical Society endowed the Tooke Chair of economics at King's College London, and a Tooke Prize.In business, he served several terms between 1840 and 1852 as governor...
, John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of...
, John Ramsey McCulloch, Nassau Senior, John Elliott Cairnes
John Elliott Cairnes
John Elliott Cairnes was an Irish economist. He is often described as the "last of the classical economists".-Biography:...
, Henry Fawcett
Henry Fawcett
Henry Fawcett PC was a blind British academic, statesman and economist.-Background and education:Fawcett was born in Salisbury, and educated at King's College School and the University of Cambridge: entering Peterhouse in 1852, he migrated to Trinity Hall the following year, and became a fellow...
, William Newmarch
William Newmarch
William Newmarch was a Yorkshireman, English banker, economist and statistician born at Thirsk, Yorkshire.He took his schooling at York, and, as a young man, held some clerkly appointments in that city...
, Samuel Jones-Loyd, 1st Baron Overstone
Samuel Jones-Loyd, 1st Baron Overstone
Samuel Jones-Loyd, 1st Baron Overstone was a British banker and politician.-Background and education:Loyd was the only son of Reverend Lewis Loyd and Sarah, daughter of John Jones, a Manchester banker...
, William Newmarch
William Newmarch
William Newmarch was a Yorkshireman, English banker, economist and statistician born at Thirsk, Yorkshire.He took his schooling at York, and, as a young man, held some clerkly appointments in that city...
, Jane Marcet
Jane Marcet
Jane Marcet was a successful writer of popular introductory science books.-Life:She was born in London, one of twelve children of the merchant and banker Anthony Francis Haldimand and his wife Jane , and was tutored at home with her brothers...
, George Ward Norman, William Blake, and Jean-Baptiste Say
Jean-Baptiste Say
Jean-Baptiste Say was a French economist and businessman. He had classically liberal views and argued in favor of competition, free trade, and lifting restraints on business...
.
Later: William Stanley Jevons
William Stanley Jevons
William Stanley Jevons was a British economist and logician.Irving Fisher described his book The Theory of Political Economy as beginning the mathematical method in economics. It made the case that economics as a science concerned with quantities is necessarily mathematical...
, Thomas Edward Cliffe Leslie
Thomas Edward Cliffe Leslie
Thomas Edward Cliffe Leslie , Irish economist. He was professor of jurisprudence and political economy in Queen's College, Belfast, noted for debunking the Wages-Fund doctrine and for addressing contemporary agrarian policy questions. A critic of Ricardian orthodoxy, he said that it had...
, Walter Coulson, Robert Mushet
Robert Forester Mushet
Robert Forester Mushet was a British metallurgist and businessman, born April 8, 1811, in Coleford, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England. He was the youngest son of Scottish parents, Agnes Wilson and David Mushet; an ironmaster, formerly of the Clyde, Alfreton and Whitecliff...
, Henry Parnell , James Pennington, John Horsley Palmer
John Horsley Palmer
John Horsley Palmer was an English banker and Governor of the Bank of England.Palmer was the son of William Palmer of Wanlip, Leicestershire, and his wife Mary Horsley, daughter of John Horsley rector of Thorley, Hertfordshire, and sister of Dr. Samuel Horsley, bishop of St Asaph. His father was...
, and Thomas Perronet Thompson
Thomas Perronet Thompson
Thomas Perronet Thompson was a British Parliamentarian, a Governor of Sierra Leone and a radical reformer.Thompson was born in Kingston upon Hull in 1783. He was son of Thomas Thompson, a merchant of Hull and his wife, Philothea Perronet Briggs...
. Others were drawn from outside the ranks of economists, including G. G. de Larpent, George John Shaw-Lefevre, John Abel Smith, Henry Warburton
Henry Warburton
Henry Warburton was an English merchant and politician, and also an enthusiastic amateur scientist....
, Lord Althorp, William Whitmore, W. B. Baring, Poulett Thomson
Charles Poulett Thomson, 1st Baron Sydenham
Charles Poulett Thomson, 1st Baron Sydenham PC was a British politician and the first Governor of the united Province of Canada.-Background:...
, Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton
Sir Robert John Wilmot-Horton, 3rd Baronet
Sir Robert John Wilmot-Horton, 3rd Baronet GCH, PC, FRS was a British politician, pamphleteer and colonial administrator during the first third of the 19th century...
, Lord Monteagle
Thomas Spring Rice, 1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon
Thomas Spring Rice, 1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon, PC, FRS was a British Whig politician, who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1835 to 1839.-Background:...
, Charles Hay Cameron, J. D. Hume, George Grote
George Grote
George Grote was an English classical historian, best known in the field for a major work, the voluminous History of Greece, still read.-Early life:He was born at Clay Hill near Beckenham in Kent...
, James Morrison, Edwin Chadwick
Edwin Chadwick
Sir Edwin Chadwick KCB was an English social reformer, noted for his work to reform the Poor Laws and improve sanitary conditions and public health...
, Sir Robert Giffen, Charles Buller
Charles Buller
Charles Buller , was a British barrister, politician and reformer.-Background and education:Born in Calcutta, British India, Buller was the son of Charles Buller , a member of a well-known Cornish family, and Barbara Isabella Kirkpatrick, daughter of General William Kirkpatrick, considered an...
, and Sir William Clay.
Significant elections after 1840 include Robert Lowe
Robert Lowe, 1st Viscount Sherbrooke
Robert Lowe, 1st Viscount Sherbrooke PC , British and Australian statesman, was a pivotal but often forgotten figure who shaped British politics in the latter half of the 19th century. He held office under William Ewart Gladstone as Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1868 and 1873 and as Home...
, Sir G. C. Lewis, Rowland Hill
Rowland Hill (postal reformer)
Sir Rowland Hill KCB, FRS was an English teacher, inventor and social reformer. He campaigned for a comprehensive reform of the postal system, based on the concept of penny postage and his solution of prepayment, facilitating the safe, speedy and cheap transfer of letters...
, Stafford Northcote, George J. Goschen, William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
, and W. E. Forster
William Edward Forster
William Edward Forster PC, FRS was an English industrialist, philanthropist and Liberal Party statesman.-Early life:...
.
Current meetings
Some current members of the society are David WillettsDavid Willetts
David Linsay Willetts is a British Conservative Party politician and the Minister of State for Universities and Science. He is the Member of Parliament representing the constituency of Havant in Hampshire.-Education:...
, Peter Jay
Peter Jay
Peter Jay is a British economist, broadcaster and diplomat.-Background:Peter Jay is the son of Douglas and Peggy Jay, both of whom were Labour Party politicians...
, Charles Dumas and Tim Congdon
Tim Congdon
Tim G. Congdon CBE ) is an economist, educated at Colchester Royal Grammar School and St. John's and Nuffield colleges at the University of Oxford, with a long record of commenting on public policy issues, including writing sympathetically about the monetarist approach to macroeconomic policy...
. The Club now meets on a monthly basis in the Royal Automobile Club
Royal Automobile Club
The Royal Automobile Club is a private club and is not to be confused with RAC plc, a motorists' organisation, which it formerly owned.It has two club houses, one in London at 89-91 Pall Mall, and the other in the countryside at Woodcote Park, Surrey, next to the City of London Freemen's School...
to hear papers presented by members of the club and a discussion over dinner.
Archives
- Political Economy Club papers at the Archives Division of the London School of EconomicsLondon School of EconomicsThe London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
.
Publications
- J. R. McCulloch, Early English Tracts on Commerce. London: Political Economy Club (1856); Cambridge University Press, 1954.
- Political Economy Club, Revised Report of the Proceedings at the Dinner of 31 May 1876, Held in Celebration of the Hundredth Year of the Publication of the “Wealth of Nations” (London: Longmans, Green, Reader & Dyer (1876).
- Political Economy Club : founded in London, 1821 : minutes of proceedings, 1899–1920, roll of members and questions discussed, 1821-1920 with documents bearing on the history of the club. Macmillan and Co., (1921)