ABSTRACT
J.S.Mill insisted on the Ricardian character of his economic theory: ‘I doubt if there will be a single opinion (on pure political economy) in the book [Principles of Political Economy (1848)] which may not be exhibited as a corollary from his [Ricardo’s] doctrines’ (letter of 22 February 1848; CW, XIII:731). He did not ignore the criticisms of the preceding quarter-century by ‘dissenting’ critics of Ricardo, but (quite correctly) did not believe them to be destructive of the main Ricardian theoretical structure (1845b:395-6, cf. Hollander 1977). From Mill’s perspective, the core of the Ricardo doctrine amounted to the proposition that an increase in the general wage rate generates a fall in the general rate of profit on capital rather than an overall increase in manufacturing prices (and reduced rent in agriculture) as Adam Smith had maintained (letter of 4 October 1872; CW, XVII: 1909-10).
