W. Stanley Jevons

The Coal Question: an Inquiry Concerning the Progress of the Nation, and the Probable Exhaustion of Our Coal-mines W. Stanley Jevons

Originally published in 1865, The Coal Question is a series of studies and inquiries into whether progression of the industrial age would deplete the world's coal resources as societies advanced. Economist William Jevons includes an introduction to the history and uses of coal, and includes the opinions of others, geological, cost, pricing, and consumption aspects, import and export rates, and alternatives to coal in his analysis. Jevons's analysis is interesting to read considering the eventual move from coal to petroleum as the world's main resource for energy. Not only were coal mines not exhausted, but there are reserves in several countries, including China and the United States. Despite the author's miscalculations, The Coal Question is a fascinating look into the production and circulation of coal in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. English economist and logician WILLIAM STANLEY JEVONS (1835-1882) was born in Liverpool. He studied chemistry and botany at University College, London, and was later professor of logic and political economy at Owens College, Manchester. He is also the author of The Theory of Political Economy (1871) and The State in Relation to Labour (1882).