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...

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 article examines the diverse aspects of the “conversion” of J. C. L. Simonde of Sismondi, in 1817 with the Political Economy. The moment and the contents of the conversion of Sismondi present two kinds of difficulties of interpretation. The first one concerns the role which plays the...

This article shows the influence of Turgot over Gustave de Molinari's studies in efficient allocation of productive means in a decentralized markets economy. From Turgot's works on spatial organization of markets's grain as an answer to the spatial information problem, Molinari makes deeper the...

Ricardo's model of capital accumulation is studied on the basis of his distinction between natural and accidental causes that are associated with permanent and temporary effects. The consequence is that, from the two contemporary interpretations of this model: theses of Hollander and Peach, only...

The paper compares the two monetary plans designed by Ricardo: the Ingot Plan of 1816, centred on the convertibility of Bank of England notes in bullion, and the Plan for a National Bank of 1823, which substitutes a public bank for the Bank of England as sole institution for issuing notes. Two...

At a distance of nearly two centuries since it broke out, the Bullion Controversy is still an endless source of questions and interpretations. The most recent contributions to the debate have focussed mainly on two points. The first is the position taken by one of most eminent participants in...

The paper informs about the work on the edition of Piero Sraffa's Unpublished Papers and Correspondence which will be published by Cambridge University Press. The hugeness and great complexity of the material are stressed and a number of “icebergs” are identified that have to be...

This contribution develops various arguments in favour of a critical edition of Sismondi's collected economic works. Beyond the difficulties of actually getting hold of out-of-print published works and the large number of unpublished manuscripts kept in various archives in Switzerland, Italy and...

The social encyclical Rerum Novarum closely links the question of poverty with that of property, and invokes Thomas Aquinas. But on closer examination, the reasoning developed in favour of property departs from the scholastic thinker, since it maintains more affinities with the liberal tradition...