The 'Socialism' of Léon Walras and His Economic Thinking

A bstract . Léon Walras was one of the few outstanding 19th century economists who, though as a theoretician belonged to the mainstream of orthodox economics , expressed views which at one time were considered to be too radical. He advocated in particular the nationalization of land as the solution to the social problem. This would generate sufficient revenue to government to enable it to do away with taxing income derived from wages and salaries. As a result workers would be in a position to invest their untaxed income and thus acquire their rightful share in the national wealth. Contrary to what many have argued, such 'socialistic' policy was not incompatible with Walras' theoretical model of perfect competition. In the absence of private ownership of land and natural resources , there would be no place for big enterprises and monopolies. His great compromise was: allow social reforms in the realm of distribution, but promote lassser-faire in the production of goods and services. Walras was convinced that if, on top of a radical land reform, the State sought to secure the working of a free competitive system , then the economic system could function very closely to the theoretical model. Though there are flaws in his proposals, his ideas no longer appear as preposterous as they did in his own time.     

Léon Walras and Social Justice

A bstract . Léon Walras strongly believed that without an equitable distribution of wealth there could be no social justice. Though he defended the right of private property , he considered that land was a special case and that it belonged to all the community. His social reform involved the nationalization of land , the abolition of taxation on wages , the curbing of monopoly power , and the promotion of a strong cooperative movement. He insisted that the only way the working class could regain their freedom was by becoming property owners. The influence of Henry George on Walras' thinking is obvious. They both shared the same humanitarian ideals, and both believed in a capitalist system working side by side with the social reforms they advocated.     

Marshall's Parable of the Meteoric Stones:

A bstract Marshall defended the classical concepts of land, labor and capital, even though many of his neoclassical contemporaries rejected these old distinctions and explained all factor incomes with a unified and general theory In his parable of the meteoric stones. Marshall illustrated the principles that separately determine rent, quasi-rent and interest , but he reconciled the old and the new by making special assumptions, which he did not fully explain His theory of rent requires the supply of land to be perfectly inelastic, and his doctrine of quasi-rent implies that markets are imperfectly competitive     

Land and Its Taxation as Issues in Economic Theory: What Is the Reason for Their Eclipse?

A bstract . Despite the continuing practical importance of the subject, land and its taxation have lost their prominence in modern economic theory. This evolution in economic thought is traced briefly. An explanatory hypothesis is offered based on the theoretical bias of the two major traditions in neo-classical theory : the Marshailian tradition does not distinguish land from capital (treating land as only one among many forms of capital) while the Walrasian tradition cannot distinguish capital from land (treating capital as an "original" factor similar to land). Though both Alfred Marshall and Léon Walras had a considerable interest in questions of land taxation, their followers, on the whole, have been neither able to overcome nor have they even been aware of the confinement of their respective theoretical perspectives.     

Francois Quesnay: Interpreters and Critics Revisited

A bstract . Francois Quesnay is held by many to be the first truly modern economist. In 1750, Quesnay outlined a framework for input-output analysis , perfected by Leontiefin 1930's; he developed a general equilibrium theory perfected in the 20th century by Walras and Keynes ; and Quesnay was among the first to analyse economic growth theory as a function of capital accumulation. As the main representative of the Physiocrats he proclaimed the libertarian motto of laissez faire. But his "libertarian ideas" were quite limited to domestic agricultural trade. The Physiocrats were tied with the aristocratic and autocratic "ancien regime" and Quesnay himself did not promote individual freedom and abhorred class struggle. By proclaiming "laissez faire la nature," the physiocrats believed in the natural order of things, with governments enforcing this natural order. In this order, agriculture is the source of all wealth and everything else is sterile: agricultural development means economic development. The physiocratic philosophy contributed to the 18th century "enlightenment" from the outside; it was too tied with the past to induce radical changes. The Physiocrats were forerunners of much of the economic theory and tools used today; but the economics system they envisioned was not meant to widen welfare or economic freedom.     

The Walras core of an economy and its limit theorem

The Walras core of an economy is the set of allocations that are attainable for the consumers when their trades are constrained to be based on some agreed price system, such that no alternative price system exists for any sub-coalition that allows all members to trade to something better. As compared with the Edgeworth core, both coalitional improvements and being a candidate allocation for the Walras core become harder. The Walras core may even contain allocations that violate the usual Pareto efficiency. Nevertheless, the competitive allocations are the same under the two theories, and the equal-treatment Walras core allocations converge under general conditions to the competitive allocations in the process of replication.     

Walras degrees and probability of a blocking coalition at pareto allocations

We attempt to determine the probability of a blocking coalition from a notion of being non- Walrasian which does not rely on the explicit use of norms. The key concept introduced is that of Walras degrees. Theorem 1 gives the bounds of the probability of blocking in terms of these degrees. Theorem 2 gives the asymptotic conditional probability of a blocking coalition given that coalitions are losing. The relationship between the degrees of the conventional norms on allocations is also investigated.     

Franz Oppenheimer's (1864–1943) Social Economic Approach to Health

The idea of scholarly synthesis was central to the founders of the American Journal of Economics and Sociology. Franz Oppenheimer (1864–1943) in fact impersonated the idea of scholarly synthesis. Being the son of a Reformist rabbi—these religious roots provided the impulse for his work—he started out as a physician in the industrial suburbs of Berlin; his diagnosis was that he faced social and not medical disease, which consequently brought him to the study of economics. But unlike many mainstream economists today, he insisted on the necessary cooperation between economists and sociologists, ideally in one person. His chair in Frankfurt, showing his own handwriting, was denominated for economic theory and sociology. In this article, I show his contributions with respect to economic aspects of health. These are not well known. Part of the reason is that the field of health economics as it is taught now is very narrow. Therefore, Oppenheimer's health economic contributions tend to be overlooked.     

The Economics of Edward Alsworth Ross

A bstract . Edward Alsworth Ross gained fame as a founding father of American sociology; however, he was trained as an economist by Richard T. Ely and made significant contributions in economics before he moved into sociology. Ross was the John Kennneth Galbraith of the popidist-progressive era. The similarity in background, methodology, Weltanschauung , and controversial academic and political styles of these men is discussed. Ross became a cause célébre after his dismissal from Stanford University in 1900 which became a major academic freedom case. Although he was a professional economist for only six years, Ross made original contributions in the areas of taxation, debt management, value theory, uncertainty , and location theory. The discussion of uncertainty as a factor in production precedes Knight's concept of risk and uncertainty and challenges neoclassical policy conclusions in a dynamic environment. His treatment of location theory includes a discussion of agglomeration, externalities, regional dualism, factor endowment, and comparative advantage to explain economic mobility.     

The Marginalists Who Confronted Land

A bstract .   Although the neoclassical turn in economics demoted land as a factor, important economists of neoclassical thinking, from neoclassical predecessors such Hermann-Heinrich Gossen through figures such as Leon Walras, did view land as a distinct factor of production. Walras, in particular, favored the use of land rent for public revenue. This paper examines the treatment of land by several neoclassical and Austrian economists and shows how, although the neoclassical school today has managed to bury land, some of the key figures who founded these schools did confront land as a factor. The burial of land is thus not inherent in neoclassical economics, but is a historical development that can be reversed.     

A continuous double implementation of the constrained Walras equilibrium

We provide a continuous and feasible double implementation of the Walras equilibrium. In our game form the set of traders is partitioned intok subsets,k>-2, and for each member of the partition there is an (outside) auctioneer. Also, each agent announces a price-allocation pair so that all agents become price takers. The outcome allocation is defined as the feasible (and budget balanced) allocation which is closest to the aggregate announced allocation. No assumptions are made on the preferences of the traders.     

Henry George: The Economist as Moralist*

Abstract . Henry George derived his economic theory from his personal experience. He had the good fortune to be living in California during his formative years; there the economic events which transpired during the settlement of the North American continent—the passing of the frontier and its consequences—occurred within a time span of a few years and the telescoping of history gave him the framework for an original economic system, as well as a utopian vision of a free society. Much attention has properly been paid to George's economic ideas but he was also a moralist, one accepted by some philosophers as among the greatest. This aspect of his work, and particularly his value theory, have been neglected.     

围填海对海洋生态系统服务功能影响评估研究综述

随着经济的发展和土地矛盾的加剧,围填海成为人类向海洋拓展生产生存空间缓解沿海地区人地矛盾的一种重要手段。填海造地给人们带来经济利益的同时,也造成一系列海洋生态环境问题。本文对国内外生态系统服务价值评估理论与方法及围填海对海洋生态系统服务影响研究进展进行了综述。     

Spreading the Word: Transaction Cost Economics in the Conversation of Economics

Transaction cost economics is a key topic in many conversations in business and economics related disciplines, much as a result of Oliver Williamson's intellectual crusade. By claiming a “distinct worldview,” he develops arguments of association and differentiation to established worldviews, like traditional microeconomics, earlier institutionalism, Austrian and radical economics, and also within the new institutional economics itself, in order to advance his theory. His resourcefulness defies straight argumentative decisions, catering to different audiences whilst trying to break new ground. Surely Williamson has not pleased everyone, but his discourse is greatly responsible for placing TCE in the everyday parlance of economics.     

令狐楚的乐府诗研究

令狐楚是中唐著名的诗人,他的五七言绝句大多采用乐府题目,音韵和谐,意境优美,很适合歌唱。同时大都是乐府旧题内灌注新的情感意趣,不仅写法新颖,而且很多与当时的政治环境紧密结合,反应社会现实。本文主要选取了他的战争题材的诗歌,这些诗歌从内容到形式,都有很高的文学价值,后人的评价也颇高。     

Max Weber as an Economist and as a Sociologist

A bstract In this article I first give a picture of Weber as an economist, mainly by focussing on a text which he distributed to his students when he taught economics in the 1890s. From this text it is, for example, clear that Weber was positive to the use of marginal utility theory in theoretical economics, but also felt that this approach was insufficient, by itself, to analyze empirical phenomena. I then outline Weber's work in economic sociology, relying primarily on Economy and Society and its central Chapter 2 ("Sociological Categories of Economic Action"). The differences between the approaches of economic theory and economic sociology, as seen by Weber, are summarized, and an account is given of some of Weber's most suggestive concepts in economic sociology. In the concluding section the question is raised as to when the analyst, according to Weber, should use economic sociology rather than economic theory, and vice versa. Weber's ideas about a broad economic science–what he termed Sozialökonomik or social economics–are also presented.     

On the Centenary of Progress and Poverty

A bstract . Henry George was more fortunate than many authors of classics. His Progress and Poverty won understanding, appreciation and recognition from the start. The book presented a theory of the business cycle based on monopoly of which theorists must take account. It also represented the peak of the development of the classical school. George shared with the school's great figures, particularly Adam Smith and David Ricardo , a Utopian vision of a free economy. But George went beyond them in envisioning a free society in a new moral order; he was one of the great libertarian philosophers. Moreover, as Teilhac has shown, he projected into economics a social rationalism that opened the way for a reborn political economy based on scientific method. Though his is one of the enduring creations of the human mind which spur the species on to greater cultural achievements, it is, first and foremost, an economic classic. Insofar as George pointed to monopoly and privilege as socially disastrous institutions , his teaching has been adopted by economists everywhere. His doctrine that all men share a common right to the earth now rules space exploitation—that is, the universe —and the deep oceans and it is winning grudging recognition in the one-fourth of the earth humanity inhabits.     

Henry George's Labor Theory of Value: He Saw the Entrepreneurs and Workers as Employers of Capital and Land, and Not the Reverse

A bstract . Henry George , the 19th century American economist and social philosopher , saw the problem of protecting the working peoples' wages and Jobs one of distributive justice. He attacked as fallacious the idea that equality of opportunity to work was a "privilege" accorded to labor. The protectionist system , he held, was based on the antidemocratic notion that "the many are called to serve and the few to rule." The paternalism of protection, whether in the domestic or the world economy , is "the pretense of tyranny," he argued. He holds that labor, including workers and entrepreneurs, and not landholders, or owners of capital, is the source of all economic value. Labor, he reasoned, "employs capital," and not the reverse. George's theory of value was an improvement on Adam Smith's , putting into it a greater emphasis on the importance of land in the analysis of the distribution of wealth. But it was a production cost theory, with all its problems and advantages.     

Henry George

A bstract . It is contended in Part I that Henry George should be recognized as an original American social theorist. He was a pioneering postmodern contributor to social theory who criticized the linear idea of progress and anticipated Durkheim's concept of the "collective consciousness," He recognized the fateful consequences of the separation of political economy into "economics" and "sociology." These include the loss of moral considerations from political economy , and the rise of a sociology that culminates in the proliferation of meaningless abstractions because it is premised on amoral economic assumptions. His theory' of speculative land value as the cause of civilizations' decline is recapitulated and shown in a larger context. The congruence between George's and Weber's concerns and conceptions is detailed. Part 11 (in the April 1995 issue) concludes by tracing the tragic consequences for modern American social theory, from Spencer to Parsons , that result from confusing the value of commodities with the value of land, of private wealth with social value.     

Instrumentalism, the Principle of Continuity and the Life Process

A bstract . Instrumentalism and the instrumental logic , as developed and reconstructed by John Dewey, Clarence Ayres , and Jacob Bronowski , is a mode of philosophy exceedingly critical of dualistic, teleological, tautological, and atomistic individualistic biases in philosophy and in economic theory. Instead, it has emphasized processual, contextual, and evolutionary systems of analysis, accentuating conceptual linkages, topological connectivity and joint relationships as a basis of rejecting conceptions of scientific neutrality and intellectual "instruments" forged in an insulating and compartmentalizing style. The principle of continuity becomes the key to the truth process and its directly associated theory of instrumental value. Applying this instrumental philosophy to the critical analysis of the utility theory of value underpinning orthodox economic theory not only exposes the theoretical and philosophical failures of the utility approach but also highlights the strengths of the instrumental logic as a reconstructive tool. The "life process of mankind" is most enhanced by distinguishing truth from falsity and by applying warranted knowledge to the examination of social and economic problems and the power institutions which give them an exacerbated life.