A Treatise on the Industry of Nations

Abstract

In this two-volume work, originally published in 1839, the relatively unknown Joseph Salway Eisdell (1791–1876) explores the political economy of 1830s Britain from a different standpoint from that of many of his contemporaries. Influenced by Adam Smith and Michael Thomas Sadler, and in concordance with his contemporary, Irish economist Mountifort Longfield (1802–84), Eisdell's focus on 'fiscal sociology' places emphasis on industrial workers and the significance of human nature in economics. He reassesses economic and population trends by rejecting the (until then) well-regarded Malthusian principles. In many ways this work is a reflection of 1830s Victorian society, which was experiencing massive shifts towards industrialisation, urbanisation and modernisation, with accompanying political changes. Eisdell's later work, An Essay on the Causes and Remedies of Poverty (1852) demonstrates his continued enthusiasm for fiscal sociology. Volume 1 focuses on production, trade, the banks and population.