Principles of Economics

Abstract

ECONOMICS admit of being reduced to principles more than other sciences dealing with human actions, for the reason which Prof. Marshall has thus expressed: “Wide as are the interests of which the economist takes account when applying his doctrines to practice, the centre of his work is a body of systematic reasoning as to the quantities of measurable motives.” These measurable motives are not necessarily self-interested: “The range of economic measurement may gradually extend to much philanthropic action.” Even now the supply of labour and of capital is largely due to the motive of family affection. The uniformities of action resulting from such measurable motives may be regarded as the laws of motion in what Jevons called the mechanics of industry—a science which Prof. Marshall has cultivated with more success than any of his predecessors, owing to an unexampled combination of antithetical powers, the comprehensive grasp of mathematical reasoning, and the careful handling in detail of the observed facts.

Principles of Economics.

Vol. I. By Prof. Alfred Marshall. (London: Macmillan and Co., 1890.)