1,722,307 research outputs found
Economics in Relation to Sociology: Dualisms and Vilfredo Pareto's Pluralistic Methodology
Full text linkMany economists remember the masters of Lausanne for their important contributions to general equilibrium and welfare economics, but Leon Walras and Vilfredo Pareto both pursued much broader social research agendas. Walras did this within the general framework of economics, by complementing his ‘pure economics’ with ‘social economics’. Pareto, in contrast, first isolated economic theory from the influence of other social phenomena and distinguished between the result of theoretical economics and the concrete economic phenomenon. He then developed a general theory of social equilibrium which, inter alia, provided for a synthetic reconciliation of economics with sociology to understand the concrete phenomenon. This paper investigates the relationship between Pareto’s economics and his sociology. Its main contribution is the clarification of the pluralistic character of his methodology. This is done by considering how dualistic distinctions became an important device for Pareto, with particular reference to Sheila Dow’s notion of dualism and Andrew Mearman’s categories of dualism. Pareto’s pluralistic approach is shown as a neo-positive blend of ‘temporary’ Cartesian and non-Cartesian elements, which is not consistent with Dow’s own Babylonian approach to economics. The paper also reveals the economic phenomena that Pareto considered were dominated by sociological influences and, therefore, not amenable to Cartesian analysis.economic equilibrium, pluralism, Vilfredo Pareto, social equilibrium
Pareto's Chronicles: Liberty and the Left
Full text linkThe ‘second series’ of the Giornale degli Economisti commenced in 1890. It revealed a notable change in editorial direction from the earlier series, which was a direct result of Alberto Zorli being joined by leading liberal intellectuals, Ugo Mazzola, Antonio de Viti de Marco and Maffeo Pantaleoni, as the Journal’s proprietary directors. In regard to economic science, the second series saw the Journal establish itself as the leading Italian distributor of the new marginalism. In regard to politics, it became a leading advocate for liberal policy. To that end, the Journal published a special feature from 1891 entitled ‘cronaca’, which critically chronicled practical developments in Italian public policy, public finances and the state of the economy. In 1893 Pareto took over from Ugo Mazzola as author of the chronicles, a role he continued to perform until 1897. His contributions were, overwhelmingly, critical of interventionist and militaristic actions of the Italian Government. The purpose of this paper is to place Pareto’s chronicles in their historical context and search for comments that hint at the subsequent development of sociological theory. This will be achieved by: interpreting Pareto’s ‘cronaca’ with reference to political developments in Italy from the 1880s to 1897; identifying practical illustrations in the ‘cronaca’ concerning liberty and the extreme left in Italian society; and identifying three broad consistencies between Pareto’s ‘non-scientific’ ‘Cronaca’ and his scientific ‘General Sociology’.Cronaca, Chronicle, Vilfredo Pareto, General Sociology
Joseph Femia (ed.), Vilfredo Pareto (London: Ashgate, 2009)
No full textAll contemporary textbooks in the social sciences hail Vilfredo Pareto (1848—1923) as one of the founding fathers of modern sociology, alongside celebrated classics such as Auguste Comte, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim. Moreover, Pareto's contribution extends to the field of economics as well, which is an accomplishment that none of the other great sociological minds can boast for himself
Pareto’s 1920-21 Manuscript on Money and the Real Economy
Full text linkIn the 1896-97 Cours d’Économie Politique and the 1906 Manuale di Economia Politica, Vilfredo Pareto made no use of the ‘Fisherian’ type quantity theory equations of exchange that Walras developed in the 1874 edition of the Éléments d’Économie Politique Pure and completely ignored Walras’ more mature ‘Cambridge’ type encaisse desirée (demand for real cash balances) approach that Walras integrated within general equilibrium in the 1900 edition of his Éléments. This paper critically examines a fragmented manuscript that Pareto wrote in 1920-21, and which was first published in 2005, for the purpose of clarifying the reasons why he did not follow Walras in integrating monetary theory within general equilibrium. In many respects, the manuscript follows Walras more closely than Pareto’s major published works, but the substantive point is that Pareto was unable to introduce money within general equilibrium theory along the lines envisaged by Walras because he explicitly recognized the interdependence between money and the real economy and abandoned the quantity theory of money.
Did Pareto discover income and substitution effects? On an interpretation suggested by Hutchison
Full text linkTerence Hutchison (1953) has argued that in his Manual of Political Economy Vilfredo Pareto provided a verbal, non-mathematical description of income and substitution effects. Hutchison's claim on Pareto''s behalf is important since it would move the date of the discovery of the concept (if not the mathematical proof) of separate income and substitution effects back from 1915 to the 1906 publication of the original Italian language version of the Manual, and would reassign priority for the discovery from Slutsky to Pareto. This note reexamines this claim of Hutchison''s, and shows that in fact it is mistaken. Pareto did not actually discuss income and substitution effects as they are now understood. Rather, in the passage which Hutchison cites, Pareto was discussing the impact of a change in income, not prices, on quantities demand.
Joseph V. Femia and Alasdair J. Marshall (eds.), Vilfredo Pareto: Beyond Disciplinary Boundaries (Surrey, England and Burligton, USA: Ashgate, 2012)
No full textReview of the book: Joseph V. Femia and Alasdair J. Marshall (eds.), Vilfredo Pareto: Beyond Disciplinary Boundaries (Surrey, England and Burligton, USA: Ashgate, 2012
- …
