著者

藤本 正富

出版者

経済学史学会

雑誌

経済学史研究 (ISSN:18803164)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.50, no.1, pp.115-116, 2008-07-31 (Released:2010-08-05)

著者

藤本 正富

出版者

The Japanese Society for the History of Economic Thought

雑誌

経済学史学会年報 (ISSN:04534786)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.35, no.35, pp.59-71, 1997 (Released:2010-08-05)

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The Theory of Reciprocal Demand is best known in the context of the work of John Stuart Mill. Mill's ‘First Elementary Principle of International Value’ first appeared in Essays on Some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy (1844). Before Mill, however, according to Jacob Viner and others, a number of classical economists, including Robert Torrens, Mountifort Longfield, and James Pennington pointed out that terms of trade are determined by reciprocal demand.No graphical approaches are provided in the suggestions of Viner and others. Accordingly, in this paper, we deal with their Theory of Reciprocal Demand using a graphical model based on the first elementary principle of Mill. We then confirm Mill's status as the founder of this theory.

著者

藤本 正富

出版者

The Japanese Society for the History of Economic Thought

雑誌

経済学史学会年報 (ISSN:04534786)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.33, no.33, pp.65-78, 1995 (Released:2010-08-05)

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Though J. S. Mill's theory of reciprocal demand was developed in the chapter “Of International Values” in the first edition of his Principles of Political Economy (1848), Mill added new sections in the third edition (1852). In Mill's mind, the theory of reciprocal demand had not been complete, because the conditions of the Equation of Demand “might be equally satisfied by every numerical rate”. To determine a unique equilibrium, Mill introduced a new element, “the means of production available.”In this paper, it is claimed that Mill's discussion in the new sections was influenced by William Thornton's criticism of the law of supply and demand, and by William Whewell's mathematical analysis.Thornton's influence on Mill shows itself in Mill's recognitions of the multiple equilibria related to the price elasticity of demand. On the contrary, Whewell's influence stems from his treatment of theoretical subjects related to Mill's new approach to the theory of reciprocal demand. In particular, the amount of the inported-goods consumed in each country before trade, into which Mill translated the means of production available, is a variable in Whewell's mathematical model.