"Liberty Matters" Forum on John Stuart Mill's Political Economy

Richard Ebeling emails:

Dear Bob,

I am participating in a “Liberty Matters” discussion on the Liberty Fund website this month on the theme of “Reassessing the Political Economy of John Stuart Mill.”

http://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/lm-jsm

The lead essay is by Steven Kates on “The Best Test of a Sound Economist,” which focuses on J.S. Mill’s capital theory that demonstrates (against modern Keynesianism) that savings and not consumption is the basis of investment, employment and economic growth.

I contributed an opening response explaining, “John Stuart Mill and Say’s ‘Law of Markets’,” for understanding that markets are coordinating and properly self-correcting when government interventions do not hinder the competitive pricing process.

http://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/lm-jsm#response2

I have also contributed a two-part comment as part of the discussion in which I talk about “John Stuart Mill and the Dangers from Unrestrained Government.”

http://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/lm-jsm#conversation2

and,

http://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/lm-jsm#conversation4

Though Mill came under the influence of socialist ideas in the later decades of his life, he, in fact, believed strongly that human nature was guided by self-interest, is influenced by the institutional incentives in the society in which people live, and individuals easily fall into the plundering of others through the power of the government.

He strongly believed that tyranny was threatened whenever government monopolized the production and supply of almost anything in society. Thus, he forcefully argued, for example, for competition in education against total government control.

And he especially feared the growing potential for “tyranny of the majority” under modern democracy. As a result, he called for restricting the voting franchise to only those not receiving redistributive benefits from the state; otherwise, this is giving voting power to those benefiting from government largess to electorally pick the pockets of others in society.

The two other participants in this month’s “Liberty Matters” discussion are Nicholas Capaldi and Sandra J. Peart. Dr. Peart is the editor of the recently published, “Hayek on Mill,” which is volume 16 in the “Collected Works of F. A. Hayek.”

Best,

Richard