Profile Major Works Resources

Nassau William Senior, 1790-1864.

English economist of the Oxford School.

A descendant of Sephardic Jewish emigrants to 17th C. London (from Portugal or Spain, via Hamburg), some of whom had gone on to live in Barbados and Jamaica, may help explain the unusual first and last name this great English economist.

The first holder of the Drummond Chair at Oxford, Nassau William Senior was a detractor from orthodox Ricardianism.  Nassau William Senior. along with his former tutor and friend Richard Whately, formed the core of the the "Oxford-Dublin" tradition of proto-marginalist economics, and is an important predecessor of the Marginalist Revolution.   John Stuart Mill took much effort to respond to Senior.  

Senior also developed an "abstinence" theory of capital and interest (in his main 1836 treatise). An important opponent of Malthus's population doctrines, Senior was also one of the developers of the ill-fated "wages fund" doctrine.   His methodological essays on the scope of political economy - his insistence on the deductive method and his arguments for the distinction between wealth and welfare - are also well-known. 

A proponent of laissez-faire, Senior was a active participant in Whig politics, being one of the commissioners responsible for the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834.   Senior was famously opposed to trade unions and against reductions in working hours (arguing that for enterprise, "the whole net profit is derived from the last hour.").   

 

  


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Major works of Nassau William Senior

  • "Report on the State of Agriculture", 1821, Quarterly Review (Jul) p.466
  • "Novels by the Author of Waverly", 1821, Quarterly Review (Oct), p.109
  • "The Pirate", 1822, Quarterly Review (Jan), p.454
  • "Cases of Walcot v Walker, Southey v. Sherwood, Murray v Benbow and Lawrence v Smith", 1822, Quarterly Review (Apr), p.123
  • "The Fortunes of Nigel", 1822, Quarterly Review (Jul), p.337
  • "Sir Walter Scott" (3 parts), 1821-22, Quarterly Review  & 1829 London Review [1864 Essays ed]
  • "Ambiguous Terms Used in Political Economy", in Appendix I (pp.309-22) in Richard Whately, 1826, Elements of Logic (1827 ed.)
  • An Introductory Lecture on Political Economy, delivered before the University of Oxford on 6 December 1826, 1827 [bk]
  • Three Lectures on the Transmission of Precious Metals from Country to Country and the Mercantile Theory of Wealth, delivered before the University of Oxford in June 1827, 1828. [bk]
  • Two Lectures on Population, delivered before the University of Oxford in Easter term 1828, to which is added a correspondence between the author and the Rev. T.R. Malthus, 1829  [bk] [repr] [McM: pdf]
  • Three Lectures on the Cost of Obtaining Money and on some effects of private and government paper money, delivered before the University of Oxford in the Trinity term 1829, 1830 [bk] [2nd ed], [repr].
  • Three Lectures on the Rate of Wages, delivered before the University of Oxford in Easter term, 1830, with a preface on the causes and remedies of the present disturbances, 1831 [bk], [McM]
  • [Anon.] Remarks on Emigration, with a draft of a bill. 1831 [bk]
  • Memorandum on the Present State of the Law Relating to Trade Combinations, 1831 -  (1865 reprint)
  • A Letter to Lord Howick on a Legal Provision for the Irish Poor. 1831.
  • A Letter to Lord Howick on Commutation of Tithes and a Provision for the Roman Catholic Clergy of Ireland, 1831
  • A Letter to Lord Howick on a Legal Provision for the Irish Poor, Commutation of Tithes and a Provision for the Roman Catholic clergy, 1831 [bk] [2nd ed] [1832 3rd ed]
  • Report from His Majesty's Commissioners for Inquiring into the Administration and Practical Operation of the Poor Laws, 1834 [bk] [1905 repr] [lib]
  • Statement of the Provision for the Poor and of the condition of the laboring classes in a considerable portion of America and Europe. 1835. [bk]
  • [Anon.] On National Property and on the Prospects of the present administration and of their successors, 1835 [bk]
  • "Political Economy", 1836, Encyclopedia Metropolitana [offprint pub. with title An Outline of the Science of Political Economy, 1836] [bk] [1845 v.6 repr, 1850 2nd ed., 1854 3rd ed, 1858 4th ed., 1863 5th ed, 1872: 6th ed.]   [lib
  • Letters on the Factory Act as it affects the cotton manufacture, addressed to the right honorable president of the Board of Trade 1837. [bk]
  • Three Lectures on the Value of Money, delivered before the university of Oxford in 1829, 1840. [bk]
  • [Anon. "A Guardian"] Remarks on the Opposition to the Poor Law Amendment Bill by a Guardian, 1841. [bk]
  • "Grounds and Objects of the Budget", 1841, Edinburgh Rev
  • "The English Poor Laws", 1841, Edinburgh Rev (Oct) [1865 Essays ed]
  • "The Budget of 1842", 1842, Edinburgh Rev
  • "France, America and Britain", 1842, Edinburgh Rev (Apr) [1865 Essays ed]
  • "The Law of Nations", 1843, Edinburgh Rev (Apr) [1865 Essays ed.]
  • "Free Trade and Retaliation", 1843, Edinburgh Rev
  • "Ireland in 1843", 1844, Edinburgh Rev
  • "Lord Brougham's Political Philosophy", 1845, Edinburgh Rev (Jan) [1865 Essays ed.]
  • "Oxford and Mr. Ward", 1845, Edinburgh Rev (Apr) [1865 Essays ed]
  • "The Oregon Question", 1845, Edinburgh Rev (Jul) [1865 Essays  ed]
  • "Confederacy and Union", 1846, Edinburgh Rev (Jan) [1865 Essays ed]
  • "Lewis on Dependencies", 1846, Edinburgh Rev (Apr) [1865 Essays ed]
  • "Proposals for Extending the Irish Poor Law", 1846, Edinburgh Rev
  • "J.S. Mill's Principles and Essays on Unsettled Questions", 1848, Edinburgh Rev
  • "Relief of Irish Distress in 1847 and 1848", 1849, Edinburgh Rev
  • A Lecture on the Production of Wealth, delivered before the University of Oxford in Michaelmas term 1847, 1847. [bk]
  • "J.S. Mill on Political Economy", 1848, Edinburgh Review
  • "Lewis on Authority in Matters of Opinion", 1850, Edinburgh Rev (Apr) [1865 Essays ed.]
  • Four Introductory Lectures on Political Economy, delivered before the university of Oxford, 1852. [bk]
  • "Presidential Address to Section F of the British Association for the Advancement of Science"
  • American Slavery: A reprint of an article on 'Uncle Tom's Cabin', of which a portion was inserted in the 206th number of the 'Edinburgh Review' and of Mr. Sumner's speech of the 19th and 20th of May, 1856, with a notice of the events which followed that speech. 1856 [bk]
  • A Journal Kept in Turkey and Greece, in the autumn of 1857 and the beginning of 1858, 1859 [bk] [1861 French trans]
  • Resolutions and Heads of Report Proposed by Mr. Senior, 1860 [bk]
  • "Opening Address of the President of Section F of the BAAS", 1860, JSS of London (Sep), p.357.
  • Suggestions on Popular Education, 1861 [bk]
  • Biographical Sketches, 1863 [bk]
  • Essays on Fiction, 1864. [bk]
  • Historical and Philosophical Essays, 2 vols, 1865. v. 1, v.2
  • Journals, Conversations and Essays Relating to Ireland, 2 vols, 1861, v.1, v.2
  • Journals Kept in France and Italy from 1848 to 1852: with a sketch of the revolution of 1848, (ed. M.C.M. Simpson, 2 vols), 1871, v.1, v.2
  • Correspondence and Conversations of Alexis de Tocqueville with Nassau William Senior, from 1834 to 1859. (ed. M.C.M. Simpson, 2 vols)., 1872 - v.1, v.2.
  • Conversations with M. Thiers, M. Guizot and other distinguished persons during the Second Empire,  e(ed. M.C.M. Simpson, 2 vols), 1878 - Vol. I, Vol. II.
  • Conversations with Distinguished Persons during the Second Empire, from 1860 to 1863,(ed. M.C.M. Simpson, 2 vols), 1880, Vol. I, Vol. II
  • Conversations and Journals in Egypt and Malta, (ed. M.C.M. Simpson, 2 vols), 1882, Vol. I Vol. II
  • ("Red Spinner" ?) Mixed Bag: A medley of angling stories and sketches, 1895 [bk]
  • Selected Writing on Economics: A Volume of Pamphlets, 1827-1852, 1966.

 


HET

 

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Resources on N.W.Senior

Contemporary

  • Letters forming part of a correspondence with Nassau William Senior, Esq. concerning Systematic Colonization, and the Bill now before Parliament for promoting Emigration; also, a Letter to the Canada Land Company, and a series of questions, in elucidation of the principles of colonization by Charles Tennant, 1831 [bk]
  • "The Laws of Population and Wages: Review of Senior", 1831, North American Review
  • "Malthus and Sadler, on Population and Emigration", by George Poulett Scrope, 1831, Quarterly Review, (v.45, Apr),  p.97 (review of Senior and Sadler)
  • "Senior's Letter on the Irish Poor", 1832, Quarterly Review (v.46, Jan), p.390
  • "State and Prospects of Ireland",  1832, Quarterly Review (v.46, Jan),  p.410 (review of Senior's Letter to Lord Howick on commutation of Irish Tithes)
  • "Foreign Poor Laws", 1835, Quarterly Review (Dec, No.109), p.35 (review of Senior)
  • "Definition and Systems of Political Economy" 1837 Edinburgh Review (No. 133, Oct), p.73
    Hints on Wages, the Corn Laws, High and Low Prices, Paper-money, and Banking, arising from a consideration of Three Lectures on the Cost of Obtaining Money by Nassau Wiliam Senior by a British Merchant [James Rennys], 1832 [bk]
  • A Letter to Nassau William Senior, Esq. in reply to the article 'Free Trade and Retaliation' in the Edinburgh Review, no. CLVII, by Robert Torrens,1843 [bk]
  • "Review of Senior's Essays on Fiction", by Anon. [Henry James], 1864, North American Rev
  • "Senior on Ireland", 1868, Edinburgh Rev
  • "Senior's Journals, Conversations and Essays Relating to Ireland", by T.E. Cliffe-Leslie, 1868, Fortnightly Review
  • "Senior's Journals", by Walter Bagehot, 1871, Fortnightly Review
  • "Nassau Senior: A Leaf of Eastern History", ed. J. Morley, 1877,  Fortnightly Review
  • "Nassau Senior's conversations with M. Thiers", Pt. 1, Pt. 2, ed. J. Morley, 1877, Fortnightly Review
  • "Nassau Senior's Conversations with Adolphe de Circourt", 1880, Fortnightly Review
  • "Nassau Senior's Journal and Conversations", 1881, Fraser's Magazine
  • "Senior's Theory of Monopoly", by Richard T. Ely, 1900 Pub AEA  (Feb), p.89 [js]
  • "Senior, N.W." in C. Coquelin and G.U. Guillaumin, editors, 1852, Dictionnaire de l'économie politique [1864 ed.]
  • "Senior, N.W."  in L. Say and J. Chailley-Bert, editors, 1892, Nouveau Dictionnaire de l'économie politique
  • "Senior, N.W" in R.H. Inglis Palgrave, editor, 1894-1899, Dictionary of Political Economy [1918 ed.]
  • "Senior, N.W." in J. Conrad et al, (1891-94) Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaften [2nd ed, 1898-1901]
  • "Senior, N.W."  in Leslie Stephen & Stephen Lee, editor, 1885-1901 Dictionary of National Biography [1908-09 ed]
  • "Senior, N.W." in 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

Modern

 

 
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