Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T11:08:17.546Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - To Which Kind of Welfare Did Léon Walras Refer?

The Theorems and the State*

from Part I - Plurality of Welfare in the Making of Welfare Economics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2021

Roger E. Backhouse
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham and Erasmus University Rotterdam
Antoinette Baujard
Affiliation:
Université de Lyon et Université Jean Monnet à Saint-Étienne
Tamotsu Nishizawa
Affiliation:
Teikyo University Japan
Get access

Summary

Léon Walras is often assumed, at least implicitly, to be a welfarist on the grounds that his work is generally considered to be the origin of the first social welfare theorems and therefore a forerunner of Pareto optimality. This chapter argues that such a view contradicts the basic foundations of Walras’s economic and social philosophy and especially his conceptions of society and of individuals. If we take seriously Walras’s distinction between “general social conditions” (“conditions sociales générales”) and “specific personal positions” (“positions personnelles particulières”), we can develop an alternative interpretation of his views on welfare, which leads in turn to a different, non-welfarist, conception of the Walrasian view of the state.

Type
Chapter
Information
Welfare Theory, Public Action, and Ethical Values
Revisiting the History of Welfare Economics
, pp. 118 - 134
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arena, R., 2002. “Organisation and knowledge in Alfred Marshall’s economics,” in Arena, R. and Queré, M. (eds.), The economics of Alfred Marshall: Evolution and the organisation of industry, Palgrave Macmillan, London, pp. 221239.Google Scholar
Arrow, K. and Hahn, F., 1971. General competitive analysis, North Holland, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Baumol, W., 1952. Welfare economics and the theory of the state, LSE, G. Bell and Sons, London.Google Scholar
Beraud, A., 2011. “Walras et l’économie publique,” Oeconomia History/Methodology/Philosophy, 1(3), September, 351392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bortkiewicz, L., 1889. Correspondence with Walras, in Walras, , 1965.Google Scholar
Breton, Y. and Lutfalla, M., 1991. L’économie politique en France au XIX ieme siècle, Economica, Paris.Google Scholar
Dockès, P., 1996. La société n’est pas un pique-nique – Léon Walras et l’économie sociale, Economica, Paris.Google Scholar
Edgeworth, F. 1889. Correspondence with Walras, in Walras, , 1965.Google Scholar
Guesnerie, R., 1995/1997. “La modélisation en économie théorique,” in Cartelier, J. (ed.), L’économie deviant-elle une science dure?, Economica, Paris, 1995, pp. 9298; English ed. and trans.: “Modelling and economic theory: Evolution and problems,” in d’Autume, A. and Cartelier, J. (eds.), Is Economics Becoming a Hard Science?, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 1997, pp. 8591.Google Scholar
Jaffé, W., 1977/1983. “The normative bias of the Walrasian model: Walras versus Gossen,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, no. 91, August 1977, in Walker, D. (ed.),William Jaffé’s Essays on Walras, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1983, pp. 371387.Google Scholar
Launhardt, W., 1885. Mathematical principles of economics, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 1993, English translation from the German first edition.Google Scholar
Mouchot, C., 1994. “L’impossible théorème de l’utilite maxima des capitaux neufs,” Economie et Sociétés, series Histoire de la pensée économique, no. 10–11.Google Scholar
Potier, J.-P., 2011. “Marché du travail et législation sociale dans la pensée de Léon Walras,” Oeconomia, no. 1–3, 437458.Google Scholar
Reyberol, A., 1999. La pensée économique de Walras, series “Théories Economiques,” Dunod, Paris.Google Scholar
Samuelson, P., 1947. Foundations of economic analysis, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.Google Scholar
Steiner, P., 1994. “Pareto contre Walras: le problème de l’économie sociale,” Economies et Sociétés – Cahiers de l’ISMEA, XXVIII, no. 10–11, 5373.Google Scholar
Van Daal, J. and Jolink, A., 1993. The equilibrium economics of Léon Walras, ch. 12, Routledge, London.Google Scholar
Walras, L., 1886/1996. Cours d’Economie Sociale, in Dockès, P., Goutte, P.-H., Hébert, C., Mouchot, C., Potier, J. P. and Servet, J.-M., Oeuvres Economiques Complètes, volume XII, Economica, Paris, 1996.Google Scholar
Walras, L., 1896/1990. Etudes d’Economie Sociale, in Dockès, P., Goutte, P. H., Hébert, C., Mouchot, C., Potier, J. P. and Servet, J. M., Oeuvres Economiques Complètes, volume IX, Economica, Paris, 1990.Google Scholar
Walras, L., 1900/1976. Eléments d’Economie Politique Pure ou Théorie de la Richesse Sociale, Librairie Générale de Droit et de Jurisprudence, Paris, 1952, first publication and 1976, new printing; Pichon, R. and Durand-Auzias, R. (eds.), Paris, 1900, final version revised by the author.Google Scholar
Walras, L., 1965. Correspondence of Leon Walras and related papers, volume II, edited by Jaffé, W., North Holland, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Walras, L. and Walras, A. L., 1870/1996, Oeuvres économiques complètes, Tome 12, (Cours d’économie sociale; Cours d’économie politique appliquée; Matériaux du cours d’économie politique pure), Economica, Paris.Google Scholar
Wicksell, K., 1899. “Leon Walras. Etudes d’économie sociale appliquée: théorie de la production de la richesse sociale,” Jahrbucher fur Nationalokonomie und Statistik, in Wicksell, K., Selected essays in economics, edited by Sandelin, B., Routledge, London, 1999.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×