Category: History of Economic Thought – A

Name that comes from the university in this Swiss city, in which marginalist economist Léon Walras taught and developed its main contributions to economics. Vilfredo Pareto, also a supporter of marginal analysis methods, whose Pareto-optimal notion deeply contributed in the development of game theory and welfare economics later on, was also part of this school. The Lausanne School contributions to economics, as well as the marginal revolution itself, influenced Alfred Marshall and the Neoclassic...

Named essentially after the work of three economists that taught the same course at the University of Vienna: -Carl Menger, whose main contribution to economic science is the theory of marginal utility; -Friedrich von Wieser, who formulated the idea of opportunity cost; -Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, who contributed to economics with his studies on the nature of capital and interest rates. Ludwig H. Edler von Mises and Friedrich A. von Hayek are considered followers of this school, and also as links to...

Influenced by mercantilism and physiocracy theories, it took place from the late XVIII century to the late XIX century. It is considered that its main authors were Adam Smith, David Ricardo and John Stuart Mill, and the fourth, the unorthodox Robert Malthus, however, there is some evidence of previous contributions provided by French physiocrats and Spanish scholastics. They wrote especially about the theory of value, distribution theory and international trade. The majority of the principles of...

Marginalism is a method of analysis used in microeconomics, which seeks to explain economic phenomena through mathematical functions (production, consumption, etc..). The term "marginal" was first used by Johann H. von Thünen in his "The Isolated State", in 1826. The Marginal revolution, which took place a few decades later, around 1870, brought the prevailing classical view of value theory to an end. Indeed, thanks to the work of three economists: W. S. Jevons, Carl Menger and M.-E.-Léon Walras...

Physiocracy is an eighteenth-century neologism from the Greek "physis," nature, "kratia" authority: government of nature. It is the name that François Quesnay and his followers, the Physiocrats, gave in France from 1750 to the new science that saw in nature, especially in agriculture, the source of wealth. All useful and valuable things were generated, following the immutable natural order of economic and social relations studied by political economy. The Physiocrats were popularly known as “the...

Mercantilism is a pre-classical economic thought, according to which the prosperity of nations is reached by promoting agriculture and manufacturing. The aim is to increase exports and restrict imports, thus accumulating gold and precious metals, relevant as a sign of wealth. Bullionism, which is considered part of mercantilist theory, was specific to the monetary matters of this economic thought. In order to implement policies recommended by the authors of this doctrine, mercantilist policymake...