Joseph Shield Nicholson

Who was Joseph Shield Nicholson?

Joseph Shield Nicholson was an English economist, born at Wrawby, Lincolnshire.

He was educated at King's College London, Edinburgh, Cambridge, and Heidelberg. He was private tutor at Cambridge and became professor of political economy at Edinburgh in 1880.

He was the first president of the Scottish Society of Economists, serving from the creation of the Society in 1897 until 1903.

His writings represent a compromise between the methods of the historical school of German economics and those of the English deductive school. In his principal work, Principles of Political Economy, he closely follows John Stuart Mill in his selection of material, but employs statistical and historical discussion instead of the abstract reasoning from simple assumption which characterizes Mill's work. Among his other writings are:

Effects of Machinery on Wages

Tenant's Gain not Landlord's Loss

The Silver Question

Money and Monetary Problems

Historical Progress and Ideal Socialism

Strikes and Social Problems

Elements of Political Economy

History of the English Corn Laws

Rates and Taxes

Rents, Wages, and Profits in Agriculture and Rural Depopulation