Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T00:09:50.428Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Some French Contributions to Economic Theory*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2014

Maurice Lamontagne
Maurice Lamontagne*
Affiliation:
Laval University
Get access

Extract

The purpose of this paper is to present a review of French economic thought. It has, however, definite limitations as to content and scope. First of all, it is restricted to the field of economic theory, because it was simply impossible to cover the other subjects of economic science. It is also limited in its scope, since many economists are not even mentioned. It deals especially with the contributions which, although not widely known, are important in the development of economic theory. Going beyond a simple restatement of the theories as originally expounded by their authors, it seeks to stress points of real interest for us. The following analysis is also purely descriptive; scarcely any criticism will be made of the works reviewed. Finally, in order to avoid subjectivism, which is always possible in essays of this kind, we will use the method of quoting abundantly from the original sources, a method less brilliant, perhaps, than summarizing but certainly more objective, offering, as it does, more direct contact with the authors themselves.

French contributions to modern economic theory may be viewed as a long cycle containing several phases. The first phase, extending from the Physiocrats to Walras, is marked by important developments which are at the origin of all the modern schools of thought. The second phase, which the outbreak of the Second World War brought to a close, is a period of decline; that downward movement can be explained, as we shall see, by several factors. Finally, many signs of revival have appeared in recent years.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science/Revue canadienne de economiques et science politique , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , November 1947 , pp. 514 - 532
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 1947

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.)

Footnotes

*

This paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association in Quebec, May 30, 1947.

References

1 Quesnay, F., “Analyse du tableau économique” (Les Physiocrates, Guillaumin, tome I, p. 67).Google Scholar

2 Mirabeau, , La Philosophie rurale (Paris), p. 35.Google Scholar

3 Turgot, , Une Lettre sur la liberté du commerce des grains (Paris).Google Scholar

4 Quesnay, F., Maximes générales du gouvernement économique d'un royaume agricole (Paris), III, VI, IX.Google Scholar

5 Turgot, , Lettre à David Hume, 25 03 1767 (see David Hume, Petite collection Guillaumin, p. 174).Google Scholar

6 Condillac, E. B., Essai sur le commerce et le gouvernement considérés relativement l'un à l'autre (Paris, 1776), p. 10.Google Scholar

7 Ibid., pp. 12-13.

8 Ibid., p. 16.

9 Wieser, , “The Theory of Value” (Annals of the American Academy, vol. II, 1892, p. 620).Google Scholar

10 Walras, Auguste, De la Nature de la richesse et de l'origine de la valeur (Paris, 1831), p. 102.Google Scholar

11 Ibid., p. 116.

12 Robbins, L., An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economic Science, p. 16.Google Scholar

13 Walras, , De la Nature de la richesse, p. 270.Google Scholar

14 Ibid., p. 271.

15 Ibid., p. 266.

16 Ibid., pp. 176-7.

17 Ibid., pp. 183-4.

18 Ibid., p. 189.

19 Letter to Léon Walras, quoted by Antonelli, E., “Un Economiste de 1830: Auguste Walras” (Revue d'Histoire Économique et Sociale, 1923, p. 525).Google Scholar

20 Dupuit, Jules, De l'Utilité et de sa mesure (éd. de Bernardi, Marie, Torino, 1933), p. 125.Google Scholar

21 Ibid., pp. 34-5.

22 Ibid., p. 36.

23 Ibid., pp. 62-3.

24 Hicks, J. R., Value and Capital (Oxford, 1939), pp. 38–9.Google Scholar

25 De l' Utilité et de sa mesure, pp. 38-9.

26 Ibid., p. 58.

27 Ibid., p. 119.

28 Antonelli, , “Un Economiste de 1830,” pp. 537–8.Google Scholar

29 Say, J.-B., Cours complet d'économie politique pratique (Guillaumin, 1840), tome II, p. 45.Google Scholar

30 Teilhac, E., L'Oeuvre économique de Jean-Baptiste Say (Paris, 1927), p. 431.Google Scholar

31 Quoted by Teilhac, ibid., pp. 353-4.

32 Roll, E., A History of Economic Thought (New York, 1946), pp. 352–4.Google Scholar

33 Cournot, A., Recherches sur les principes mathématiques de la théorie des richesses (Paris, 1938), p. 146.Google Scholar

34 Ibid., p. 46.

35 Ibid., pp. 161-2.

36 Ibid., p. 112.

37 Ibid., pp. 65-6.

38 Ibid., p. 62.

39 Ibid., p. 65.

40 Ibid., p. 101.

41 Ibid.

42 Ibid., pp. 103-5.

43 Ibid., pp. 51-2.

44 Ibid., 146.

45 Ibid., p. 54.

46 Letter to Cournot, quoted by Pirou, G., Les Théories de l'équilibre économique (Paris, 1938), p. 186 n.Google Scholar

47 Pirou, Gaétan, Doctrines sociales et science économique (Paris, 1929), pp. 109–10.Google Scholar

48 Quoted by Mauduit, R., Auguste Comte et la science économique (Paris, 1929), pp. 86–7.Google Scholar

49 Quoted by R. Mauduit, ibid., p. 260.

50 Simiand, F., Le Cataire, l'évolution sociale et la monnaie (Paris, 1932), p. x.Google Scholar

51 Simiand, F., Statistique et expérience (Paris, 1922).Google Scholar

52 Simiand, F., Les Fluctuations économiques à longue période et la crise mondiale (Paris, 1932).Google Scholar

53 Simiand, F., La Méthode positive en science économique (Paris, 1912).Google Scholar

54 Halbwachs, Maurice, “La Théorie générale de John-Maynard Keynes” (Annales Sociologiques, D4, 1940, pp. 37–41).Google Scholar

55 Perroux, François, Leo Néo-marginalisme (Paris, 1945), pp. 6–7.Google Scholar

56 Marat, A., Initiation à la théorie économique (Paris, 1943), préface, pp. v–vi.Google Scholar

57 L'Institute de science économique appliquée (Paris, 1946).Google Scholar

58 The following is an incomplete list of some of the recent works: Bettelheim, Ch., Les Problémes théoriques et pratiques de la planification (Paris, 1946)Google Scholar; Bettelheim, Ch., La Plannification soviétique (Paris, 1945)Google Scholar; Bordaz, R., Coûts constants et prix multiples (Paris, 1942)Google Scholar; Chamley, P., L'Oligopole (Paris, 1943)Google Scholar; Damalas, B. V., L'Oeuvre scientifique de François Simiand (Paris, 1943)Google Scholar; Damalas, B. V., La Crise du capitalisme et le probléme de l'économie dirigée (Paris, 1946)Google Scholar; Denis, H., Le Monopole bilatéral (Paris, 1943)Google Scholar; Domarchi, J., La Pensée de J. M. Keynes (Paris 1944)Google Scholar; Marchal, J., Le Mécanisme des prix et la structure de l'économie (Paris, 1946)Google Scholar; Marat, A., Initiation à la théorie économique (Paris, 1943)Google Scholar; Nogaro, Bertrand, La Méthode de l'économie politique (Paris, 1943)Google Scholar; Nogaro, Bertrand, Le Développement de la pensée économique (Paris, 1944)Google Scholar; Perroux, F., La Valeur (Paris, 1943)Google Scholar; and Peygréga, J., La Politique des grands travaux devant la théorie économique (Paris, 1943).Google Scholar