The Pioneers’ Arguments for Formulating Economic Problems Mathematically

Bo Sandelin ()
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Bo Sandelin: Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University, Postal: P.O Box 640, SE 40530 Gothenburg, Sweden, http://www.economics.gu.se

No 633, Working Papers in Economics from University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics

Abstract: The nineteenth century pioneers in formulating economic problems mathematically often felt that they needed to explain their reasons for using mathematics. We will look at the arguments of Cournot, Thünen, Gossen, Jevons, Walras, Edgeworth, Marshall, Fisher, Wicksell, and Pareto. Three main arguments can be found: First, mathematics provides greater clarity of presentation, secondly, economics is fundamentally similar to the mathematical natural sciences, especially physics, and third, mathematics can help economists themselves to control the reasoning in their analysis.

Keywords: History of economic thought; economic methodology; mathematics; marginalism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B41 C00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 17 pages
Date: 2015-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-hpe
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