Chapter 13 : NASSAU WILLIAM SENIOR (1790-1864)

NASSAU WILLIAM SENIOR (1790-1864)

Introduction

• Nassau William Senior was born in 1790 in England.
• He was a highly educated Oxford man who was called to the Bar.
• He later became the Professor of Political Economy at Oxford.
• First Incumbent: He became the first incumbent of the Oxford economics chair when it was founded in 1825.
• He served as a member of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws in 1832.
• His writings mostly belong to the period 1827-52.
• His major work is the book "An Outline of Political Economy" published in 1836.

Key Terms

📌 Exam Tidbits

• Nassau William Senior (1825): Became the first incumbent of the newly founded Oxford economics chair.
• Nassau William Senior (1832): Appointed as a member of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws.
• "An Outline of Political Economy" (1836): Senior's major published work.

The Scope and Method of Political Economy

• Focus on Wealth, not Happiness: Senior strictly defined the boundaries of the discipline. He stated, "The subject treated by the Political Economist .... is not Happiness, but Wealth."
• Nature of the Science:
• He regarded economics as an abstract and deductive science.
• His view is that economics is a science and not an art.

• He excluded practical application from the discipline, arguing that practical questions "no more form part of the science of political economy..... than navigation forms part of the science of astronomy."
• Role of the Economist:
• Senior did not want the economist to offer even a single piece of advice.
• The business of the economist is neither to recommend nor to dissuade, but solely to state general principles.
• He emphasized deduction over empiricism: "Reasoning is more important than observation."

• Four Propositions of Political Economy: Senior based his economic analysis on exactly four postulates/propositions:

1. "Every man desires to obtain additional wealth with as little sacrifice as possible." (This is also known as the hedonistic principle…