The Analysis of Linear Economic Systems: Father Maurice Potron’s Pioneering Works

286 Pages·2010·10.588 MB·English

by  Christian Bidard (editor), Guido Erreygers (editor)

The Analysis of Linear Economic Systems
Maurice Potron (1872–1942), a French Jesuit mathematician, constructed and
analysed a highly original, but virtually unknown economic model. This book
presents translated versions of all his economic writings, preceded by a long
introductionwhichsketcheshislifeandenvironmentbasedonextensivearchival
researchandfamilydocuments.
Potronhadnoeducationineconomicsandalmostnocontactwiththeeconomists
ofhistime.HisprimarysourceofinspirationwasthesocialdoctrineoftheChurch,
which had been updated at the end of the nineteenth century. Faced with the
‘economicevils’ofhistime,hereactedbyutilizinghistalentsasamathematician
andanengineertoinventandformalizeageneraldisaggregatedmodelinwhich
production,employment,pricesandwagesarethemainunknowns.Heintroduced
fourbasicprinciplesornormativeconditions(‘sufficientproduction’,the‘rightto
rest’,‘justiceinexchange’,andthe‘righttolive’)todefinesatisfactoryregimes
ofproductionandlabourontheonehand,andofpricesandwagesontheother.
Hestudiedtheconditionsfortheexistenceoftheseregimes,bothonthequantity
sideandthevalueside,andheexploredthewaytoimplementthem.
ThisbookmakesitclearthatPotronwasthefirstauthortodevelopafullinput–
outputmodel,tousethePerron–Frobeniustheoremineconomics,tostateaduality
result,andtoformulatetheHawkins–Simoncondition.Thesearealltechniques
which now belong to the standard toolkit of economists. This book will be of
interesttoEconomicspostgraduatestudentsandresearchers,andwillbeessential
readingforcoursesdealingwiththehistoryofmathematicaleconomicsingeneral,
andlinearproductiontheoryinparticular.
PaulA.Samuelson’sshortforewordtothebookmayhavebeenhislastacademic
contribution.
Christian Bidard is Professor of Economics at the University of Paris Ouest,
France.
Guido Erreygers is Professor of Economics at the University of Antwerp,
Belgium.
Routledge studies in the history of economics
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2 SocialismandMarginalismin RobertW.DimandandMaryAnn
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