The aim of this essay is to describe the concept of self-interest and show how it relates to the idea of the individual as an economic agent, focusing only on Smith's Wealth of Nations. Self-interest is analysed from three different perspectives that highlight its conceptual complexity. The...

The aim of this paper is to trace the evolution of the concept of ''rational consumer'' in Hicks's writings. After being one of the pioneers in the introduction of rationality assumptions about consumer behaviour in economic models, Hicks gradually developed a sceptical view about some of the...

One of the keys to Max Weber's social economics is the evolution of institutional arrangements. In the first part, I show that Weber can be interpreted as an institutional economist. In the second part, I reconstruct the most important features of Max Weber's institutionalism, namely the...

In 1958 Hirschman's The Strategy of Economic Development irrupted in the development economics scene. His work provided the explanations of the economic development with a new point of view, assessing productive activities by their capacity to inducing new activity. This book also induced in its...

Hayek founds his liberalism on the notion of order, principally used to construct his theory of spontaneous market order. After discussing the importance and the ambiguities of the distinction between spontaneous orders and organized orders, we show that one of the great weaknesses of this...

This paper considers the economic policy advocated by Keynes and Friedman in relation to their particular theoretical framework. They have in common an opposition to fine-tuning of the economy. With regard to the contrasting strategies of rules versus discretion, both would be advocates of...

Competition is a keyword in the works of Maurice Allais. From analytical point of view, competition, as differentiated sector with multiple enterprises under perfect competition, coexist with a non-differentiated sector with single nationalized company. Moreover, competition is not spontaneous...

This article studies the role of the businessmen in Marshall’s views on the progress towards the social ideal. The analysis is grounded on a perfectionist reappraisal of the Marshallian principle of justice supported by an historical perspective and some of Marshall’s unpublished papers. It...

Destutt de Tracy’s value theory is examined here in its relations to labor. This theory is original in that it has two concepts of value, one being natural, the other, conventional. Both are linked to labor, deemed to be any productive activity and the sole origin of any production, but in two...

This paper proposes a new reading of the sources to release a new dating for entering Lemercier de la Rivière in intellectual circles of Quesnay and Mirabeau. In doing so, this Physiocrat generally accepted by commentators as a secondary author of the school led by Quesnay, appears as one of...