Leon Walras S Elements Of Theoretical Economics

This is an English translation of the third edition (1896) of León Walras' Elements of Theoretical Economics. The translators of the work undertook this project for three reasons. First, this edition is Walras's best theoretical work. Second, the two subsequent editions contain new elements that spoil his previous work; furthermore, important parts of the third edition do not appear in the subsequent editions. Third, William Jaffé's translation (1954) of the last edition is now outdated in the light of recent research on Walras's ideas; furthermore, Jaffé's terminology in the parts shared by the third and subsequent editions is not always accurate.

Elements of Pure Economics was one of the most influential works in the history of economics, and the single most important contribution to the marginal revolution. Walras' theory of general equilibrium remains one of the cornerstones of economic theory more than 100 years after it was first published.

First Published in 2004. Studies in Applied Economics is an English translation of Études d’économie politique appliquée (1898) by Léon Walras (1834–1910). Until now, Éléments d’économie politique pure (1874) was the only book by Walras available in English (Elements of Pure Economics, 1954). It contains the theory of general economic equilibrium under free competition, with the concept of utility maximization as its core. Walras’s conclusion was that where free competition is possible, it should be the rule. So, in the present book, he advocates protective regulation, within which economic agents may compete freely. For water, gas or railway transport, for instance, where free competition is impossible, rules are formulated to maintain its advantages. Issues such as money, capital, credit, banking and the stock markets are also dealt with. The book’s final chapter recapitulates the themes of Walras’s three main works: Éléments, Études d’économie sociale and this volume, Études d’économie politique appliquée. Walras’s aim was to provide an economic blueprint for a social ideal where poverty and similar evils could be banished.

In order to understand the various strands of general equilibrium theory, why it has taken the forms that it has since the time of Léon Walras, and to appreciate fully a view of the state of general equilibrium theorising, it is essential to understand Walras's work and examine its influence. The first section of this book accordingly examines the foundations of Walras's work. These include his philosophical and methodological approach to economic modelling, his views on human nature, and the basic components of his general equilibrium models. The second section examines how the influence of his ideas has been manifested in the theorising of his successors, surveying the models of theorists such as H. L. Moore, Vilfredo Pareto, Knut Wicksell, Gustav Cassel, Abraham Wald, John von Neumann, J. R. Hicks, Kenneth Arrow, and Gerard Debreu. The treatment also examines models of many types in which Walras's influence is explicitly acknowledged.