B12 - History of Economic Thought: Classical (includes Adam Smith)Return

The article discusses utilitarianism in the form elaborated by John Stuart Mill. Although utilitarianism has been variously employed by philosophers and economists, Mill is the figure most closely associated with this theory. His ideas deeply influenced economists of the 20th century and continue to shape the postulates of contemporary economics and other social sciences. We demonstrate how seminal utilitarianism was to Mill's work, explore what influenced his thoughts on it, and place our analysis in the socioeconomic context of the time Mill was writing. We argue that utilitarianism has eclipsed Mill's other contributions to economics, yet is often oversimplified and has unjustly served as a platform for a more general critique of homo economicus.