 La lecture des penseurs libéraux français par Carl MengerRevue Française d'Économie, 2008, vol. 22, issue 4, 139-198 Abstract: [eng] Origins of Menger’s Thought in French Liberal Economists. . Carl Menger, who became regarded as the founder of the Austrian School, neither only confronted German members of the Historical School, nor only criticized British Classical Political Economy. He also read the French Liberal economists. The link between Say and Menger has already been commented upon at times, but always on a mostly intuitive basis. And it still seems necessary to give substantial proof of its true extent, as well as to document it with proper archival work - that is done in the present article, that brings to light first-hand material and information, mainly from the Menger Collection located in Japan. Besides the case of Say, Menger’s reading of French authors in favor of freetrade (Count Pellegrino Rossi, Michel Chevalier, Frédéric Bastiat) is less known, even from most historians of Austrian economic thought. For instance, Rossi (who succeeded Say at the chair of Political economy at the Collège de France) had written a handbook of economics that Menger used much for the revision of his own Grundsätze der Volkswirtschaftslehre of 1871 (the role of Karl Heinrich Rau’s handbook before publishing his masterwork is better known, as it was demonstrated by historian of utility Emil Kauder - we shall demonstrate here that Rossi’s book was as much significant). About Chevalier and Bastiat, the present essay also intends to present reasonably balanced judgments about Menger’s reading, always based on first-hand material - besides the Menger Collection at Hitotsubashi in Japan, the Perkins Library at Duke University is also used, as it is a treasure in Mengerian studies too. Such developments in historical studies of economic thought are of interest, not only to Mengerian and Austrian scholars, but to all those interested in the history of economic thought and of 19th century European scholarship. Besides the case of Say, Menger’s reading of French authors in favor of freetrade (Count Pellegrino Rossi, Michel Chevalier, Frédéric Bastiat) is less known, even from most historians of Austrian economic thought. For instance, Rossi (who succeeded Say at the chair of Political economy at the Collège de France) had written a handbook of economics that Menger used much for the revision of his own Grundsätze der Volkswirtschaftslehre of 1871 (the role of Karl Heinrich Rau’s handbook before publishing his masterwork is better known, as it was demonstrated by historian of utility Emil Kauder -we shall demonstrate here that Rossi’s book was as much significant). About Chevalier and Bastiat, the present essay also intends to present reasonably balanced judgments about Menger’s reading, always based on first-hand material -besides the Menger Collection at Hitotsubashi in Japan, the Perkins Library at Duke University is also used, as it is a treasure in Mengerian studies too. Such developments in historical studies of economic thought are of interest, not only to Mengerian and Austrian scholars, but to all those interested in the history of economic thought and of 19th century European scholarship. [fre] Carl Menger, le fondateur de l’ « école autrichienne d’économie politique », outre qu’il a affronté l’ « école historique allemande » et critiqué l’ « école classique britannique », a lu les économistes français, en particulier libéraux. Sa relation subodorée à la pensée de Jean-Baptiste Say a d’ailleurs été commentée dans la tradition autrichienne -mais le plus souvent sur une base intuitive. Il est donc indispensable d’apporter des éléments substantiels et précis pour l’évaluer en toute certitude. Dans quelle mesure Menger a-t-il lu et apprécié les libéraux français ? Le présent article répond à partir d’un travail de première main sur les fonds d’archives Menger des universités Hitotsubashi (Japon, où est conservée sa bibliothèque privée) et Duke (Etats-Unis, archives recueillies par son fils). Menger a lu les auteurs français, c’est un fait - et pas seulement Say, mais encore (ce qui est moins connu) le comte Pellegrino Rossi, Michel Chevalier et Frédéric Bastiat. Il utilisa ainsi le manuel rédigé par Rossi (successeur de Say à la chaire d’économie politique du Collège de France) pour réviser ses propres Grundsätze der Volkswirtschaftslehre [ 1871], en vue de donner une deuxième édition qu’il ne mena pas à terme. Les annotations que l’ouvrage contient sont inédites, le matériau présenté ici est donc neuf. Ce rôle du manuel de Rossi n’a d’égal dans le « work-in-progress » du Viennois que celui, démontré par l’historien de l’utilité marginale Emil Kauder en 1960, du manuel de Karl Heinrich Rau, le « brouillon » pour ses Grundsätze. Et le fonds d’archives japonais offre bien plus : il permet l’état des lieux établi ici preuves à l’appui, raisonné et commenté, de la lecture des libéraux français par Menger. Cette recherche est pré-publiée dans la Revue française d’économie avec l’accord de la Review of Austrian Economics pour laquelle elle fut rédigée d’abord en anglais. Audelà de l’école autrichienne, c’est un pan de la pensée du 19ème siècle en Europe qui s’y trouve en jeu. Date: 2008 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:prs:rfreco:rfeco_0769-0479_2008_num_22_4_1718 Access Statistics for this article Revue Française d'Économie is currently edited by Arthème Fayard More articles in Revue Française d'Économie from Programme National Persée |
Is your work missing from RePEc? Here is how to contribute.
Questions or problems? Check the EconPapers FAQ or send mail to .
EconPapers is hosted by the
School of Business at Örebro University.