How did contemporary microeconomic theory emerge? Who were its chief architects? Conventional wisdom points largely to the work of Alfred Marshall (1842-1924) and his colleagues in England in the late nineteenth century. In this highly original and important contribution to the history of...

This articles traces a little-known French tradition in spatial economics that was advanced by state engineers who were trained at the Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées and worked for the State Corps engineers. Spurred in part by changes in power technology, especially the advent of the railroad,...