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Melanges d'Economie Politique et Sociale.

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Few studies have focused specifically on the physiocratic analysis of money. The physiocrats' position was based on their criticism of Law's system and more broadly on the role of finance. First, they rejected the idea that a large amount of money was the condition for the wealth of nations. Second, they rejected paper money, as well as any form of currency alteration. As a simple means of exchange, Quesnay and his followers recognized that money could be replaced by paper. However, in order to comply with the “value for equal value” principle of exchange, money had to be made of precious metals, as Le Trosne, the main architect of the physiocratic monetary doctrine, forcefully asserted. This doctrine of money created a tension: from the circulation perspective, money was not considered as a component of wealth and could be replaced by paper to simply represent flows in expenditure; but from the equality-of-exchange perspective, money had to be made of precious metals, thus becoming a storable asset in a portfolio. To overcome this tension, the économistes were to forcefully denounce hoarding and deny money the function of a store of value.
Article
What is the purpose of economic science? Is it about discovering general laws of economic behaviour? Is it about policy-making? And how do those objectives tie in with political views and normative preferences? In 1882–1883 a debate about the existence of economic laws arose between the French Liberal School and Émile de Laveleye, who had just published his Éléments d’économie politique. The debate concerned the form and meaning of economic science and it was bound up with the political views of both sides. A third party to this debate, Léon Walras, was having great difficulty in finding institutional and political support. Although he was closer to the French Liberals in terms of method, he was more inclined to Laveleye’s views concerning the purpose of political economy and in his political outlook. Based on unpublished letters, we will trace the imbroglio between method and purpose of political economy in the triangle formed by Émile de Laveleye, Léon Walras and the “orthodox” French Liberal School.
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The resources potential has been established as an attempt to face the difficulty that neoclassical economists experience in trying to define with precision entrepreneurs and their modernizing effect on the economy, especially by building on Granovetter and Aldrich's contributions. This chapter defines innovative entrepreneurs based on the major economic theories of entrepreneurship, so as to get to the concept of the entrepreneur's resources potential. The social dimension of entrepreneurial behavior is evident as entrepreneurs, evolving within society, are constantly interacting with other economic agents. Knowledge‐based and financial resources are fundamental. Despite their knowledge, entrepreneurs do not always easily access funding. The only way to overcome this obstacle is to activate one's network of social relationships. According to the theory of ignorance, economic agents are not aware of the decisions taken by other agents.
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This article examines the reasons that led Cournot to refuse Walras's request that he writes an article defending mathematical economics. From a reading of Cournot's works on philosophy and economics we show three reasons which explain the Cournot's refusal. First, Cournot does not attach the same importance to the theorems proposed by Walras. Second, these theorems enable Walras to defend an economic system that he considers to be truer than any other while Cournot believed that the economy could be subject to various forms of mathematical representations. Third, Cournot does not refer to the same conception of mathematics of Walras.
Article
Mathematics and determinism may seem two very different topics, especially when mathematics is associated with the social sciences and economics. Nonetheless, this has not always been the case. In 1873 a curious debate took place in Paris between a young Léon Walras and Pierre Emile Levasseur concerning the compatibility of mathematics, economics, and free will. It was the consequence of a Laplacian view of mathematics that Walras inherited from physics, a view that associated mathematics with a peculiar philosophical conception. We reconstruct the historical context of the debate, the particular view of mathematics that lead to it, and then analyse the attitudes of Cournot, Walras, and Levasseur on the issue. We show that the mathematisation of economics was deeply influenced by how physicists understood mathematics.
Article
The three first "Attempts to apply mathematics to political economy" of Léon Walras and the gradual integration of subjective choices in pure economics. This paper intends to reconsider some Léon Walras’s early writtings still quite unknown and not often commented. The first Attempts represent the only evidence of Walras’s interest for pure economics before 1872. However, far to strenghten the primacy of this particular field in Walras’s reflections as a whole, a careful analysis of these manuscipts reveals quite immediatly that difficulties involved by pure economics genesis are mainly philosophical and not technical ones. Hence, it leds to the following result : even if mathematician Paul Picard contribution is from now on well established, it was first required that Walras had built up his "effective demand" concept ; which is only possible once the subjective choices are integrated into pure economics, the field of natural science of exchange values. Classification JEL : B100, D500, A120
Article
Résumé La domination de métaphores issues de la physique dans les écrits des économistes du siècle dernier a souvent eu comme conséquence de négliger la nature et la portée, chez certains d’entre eux, d’autres référentiels métaphoriques. La dualité du discours d’Alfred Marshall avec, d’un côté, la présence de métaphores mécaniques issues de la physique et, de l’autre, des métaphores biologiques évolutionnistes en est un cas exemplaire. L’objet de cet article est de proposer une évaluation épistémologique de la valeur cognitive de cette métaphore évolutionniste au sein des écrits de Marshall.
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Le projet du commerce équitable est de développer un commerce différent du commerce «conventionnel» en permettant notamment une juste rémunération des producteurs du Sud. Les différences entre les deux commerces sont bien souvent présentées comme allant de soi. Or, l'examen à la fois du fonctionnement du marché équitable et de l'idéal visé par ses promoteurs montre certaines convergences avec le commerce «conventionnel». Cet article rend compte de ces convergences. The fair trade plan is to develop an alternative trade which allows notably a fair payment to producers in the South. The differences between fair trade and conventional trade are presented as if they are obvious. But a close study of the fair trade functioning and the ideal fair trade shows some points of convergence with conventional trade. This article expounds this last point of convergence. Der Fair Trade-Plan bedeutet, ein alternatives Handelswesen zu entwickeln, das vor allem eine gerechte Bezahlung der Produzenten in den südlichen Ländern ermöglicht. Die Unterschiede zwi-schen Fair Trade und konventionellem Handel werden allgemein so dargestellt, als wären sie offensichtlich. Doch zeigt eine intensivere Untersuchung der Funktionsweise von Fair Trade und der Idealform von Fair Trade einige Konvergenzpunkte mit dem konventionellen Handel. Dieser Beitrag geht auf die genannten Konvergenzpunkte ein. El proyecto de comercio equitativo es el de desarrollar un tipo de comercio diferente del convencional, que permita una justa remuneración a los productores del Sur. Las diferencias entre los dos comercios se presentan la mayoría de las veces como muy evidentes. Ahora bien, el examen simultáneo del funcionamiento real del mercado equitativo y el óptimo concebido por sus promotores, muestra algunas convergencias con el comercio convencional. Este artículo pasa revista a estas convergencias.
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L. Walras, comme J. A. Schumpeter, avaient la même ambition : révolutionner la théorie économique. Ils atteignent cet objectif par des voies différentes (le premier par les mathématiques, le second par l’analyse sociohistorique). Ils formulent ainsi deux théories différentes de l’entrepreneur, agent économique central du capitalisme. Le modèle de Walras est statique. L’entrepreneur est rationnel par son comportement maximisateur. Le modèle de Schumpeter est dynamique. L’entrepreneur est le moteur du changement économique. Une analyse parallèle des deux théories montre cependant que l’écart entre ces deux analyses n’est pas aussi profond. L. Walras, like J. A. Schumpeter, had the same ambition: to revolutionize the economic theory. They achieved this goal by various ways (the first through the use of mathematics, the second by a socio-historical analysis). They formulate two different theories of the entrepreneur, the central economic agent of capitalism. The Walras’ model is static. The entrepreneur is rational by his maximizing behaviour. The Schumpeter’s model is dynamic. The entrepreneur is the engine of economic change. Nevertheless, the parallel of both theories shows that the gap between these analyses is not so deep.
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French liberal economists share a very surprising reading of Bentham's theory. In this paper, we underline the method according to which these French liberal economists in the nineteenth century economists understand Bentham's utilitarianism: they consider that utilitarianism deals with 'utility' but disregards justice. Such an interpretation appears when they tried to oppose the 'French school' and 'English school' of economics as well as when they discussed the foundation of property rights.
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French liberal economists share a very surprising reading of Bentham's theory. In this paper, we underline the method according to which these economists understand Bentham's utilitarianism: they consider that utilitarianism deals with 'utility' but disregards justice. Such an interpretation appears when they tried to oppose the 'French school' and 'English school' of economics as well as when they discussed the foundation of property rights.
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The authors have focused on the provision of a general outlook on global multiregional models that enable the study of the effects of commercial policies, and have particularly analysed the models that can be applied to underdeveloped economies. Starting from a simple model, the hypotheses introduced into general equilibrium models are analysed, focusing on the study of commercial policies. Following a synthetic description of the main Walrasian global multiregional models, selected according to the possibility of applying these instruments to the analysis of commercial policies in underdeveloped countries, attention is particularly given to the main limitations entailed by these models, thus emphasizing their disagreement with the characteristics of the underdeveloped economies. Moreover, the study underlines the hypotheses according to which these models would not be suitable for the economies of those states. The authors also insist on the impact of the possible scenarios derived from the Doha Round, which have caused significant assessment differences.
Article
When Walras's Market Models was published, a friend wrote to me that he hoped that it would stimulate research on Walras's work. I am very pleased that his wish is coming true. A number of writers have reexamined it from new perspectives. It is, perhaps, inevitable that the quality and tone of the texts is uneven, and it is to be hoped that in the future all Walrasian research can be done carefully, in good taste, in a dispassionate fashion, and without rhetorical devices and patronizing remarks. In any event, I have presented in my book the results of 30 years of study of Walras's work, and I invite the reader to contrast what I have written with differing expositions. I have nothing to add to those results at this time, except the data which follow.
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The Leitmotiv of Léon Walras’s work was his desire to contribute to the solution of what he called the Social Question. The fact that so many people were living in misery was unacceptable to him. So, it is not amazing that his Études d’économie sociale and Études d’économie politique appliqué are thoroughly normative; even the Éléments may be considered as normative, at least as written with normative intentions. In this paper this is exemplified by a discussion of Walras’s monetary work, preceded by an explanation of his views on science in general and economics as part of social science in particular and further discussed in the last section.
Article
[fre] Institutions and Participants in Walras's Model of Oral Pledges Markets. . Pendant beaucoup d'années, l'opinion exprimée dans la littérature sur les œuvres de Léon Walras considérait qu'il a failli prendre en compte les institutions du marché dans sa théorie de l'échange. Cet article fait le constat inverse : Walras a fondé son modèle d'un marché concurrentiel avec engagements oraux sur une exposition minutieuse des institutions et des autres caractéristiques structurelles qui influencent la manière d'agir des échangeurs. Ces caractéristiques incluent les règles, les conventions, les types d'entreprises représentées, les denrées, ainsi que les différents échanges réalisés. On montre que Walras a par ailleurs expliqué que les phénomènes et les processus des marchés organisés sont créés par des besoins économiques et sont liés à la production et à l'épargne. [eng] Institutions and participants in walrass model of pledges markets. . For many years the opinion has been expressed in the literature on Leon Walras's work that he did not pay attention to market institutions in his theory of exchange. It is shown that in fact he founded his model of a purely competitive organized oral pledges market upon a detailed specification of the institutions and other structural features that condition the traders' behavior, including raies, conventions, kinds of firms represented, and kinds of commodities and trades. It is shown that he also explained how the phenomena and processes of organized markets arise from economic needs and are related to other economic processes. He drew upon empirical information to construct his model, and illuminated that information with his theoretical perceptions.
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