On the application of mathematics to political economy'. The Edgeworth--Walras--Bortkievicz controversy, 1889--1891

Roberto Marchionatti

Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2007, vol. 31, issue 2, 291-307

Abstract: In the period of the first spread and consolidation of mathematical economics there was impotant debate on Walras's theory of exchange involving Edgeworth, Walras and Bortkievicz directly, and Marshall indirectly. The dispute may be traced back to issues involving the role of abstract reasoning and the use of mathematics in economics. The discussion reveals the clash of different methodological requirements: on the one hand, there is Walras's requirement of rigour and simplicity allowed by the reduction of economics to mathematical treatment; on the other hand, there is Edgeworth's requirement of greater realism in the model. Copyright 2007, Oxford University Press.

Date: 2007
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/cje/bel024 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:cambje:v:31:y:2007:i:2:p:291-307

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

Cambridge Journal of Economics is currently edited by Jacqui Lagrue

More articles in Cambridge Journal of Economics from Cambridge Political Economy Society Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().