Jevons, William Stanley [key], 1835–82, English economist and logician. After working in Australia as assayer to the mint, he taught at Owens College, Manchester, and University College, London. His major contribution to economics was his marginal utility theory of value; Jevons held that value was determined by utility, and he demonstrated the relationship in mathematical terms. The Theory of Political Economy (1871) was his chief theoretical work. His practical application of economics in The Coal Question (1865) influenced government action. In General Mathematical Theory of Political Economy (1862), he demonstrated his belief in the application of mathematics to economic theory. His several texts include Pure Logic (1863) and The Principles of Science (1874).
See his Letters and Journal (ed. by his wife, 1886).
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