ABSTRACT
In his own lifetime William Stanley Jevons's work on various practical questions gave him a reputation far transcending the limits of his own profession. Since his death he has been recognised universally as one of the most outstanding figures in the history of economic thought. Jevons's main contribution to theoretical economics is to be found in his Theory of Political Economy. He was even less successful in developing a theory of distribution which should be coherent with his general theory of value. The essence of capitalistic production is resort to roundabout processes which yield a higher— that is, a more desired— product than more direct methods, but which necessitate a period of waiting before the yield of investment accrues. Jevons's most important incursions into the fields were three: his investigation of the trend of prices in the fifties and the sixties; his investigation of the coal question; and his investigation of the trade cycle.
