 Gustave Fauveau's contribution to fiscal theoryThe European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2010, vol. 17, issue 4, 813-835 Abstract: Gustave Fauveau, a French mathematician and economist of the mid-nineteenth century, presented in 1864 an innovative theory of taxation that has been largely overlooked by historians of economic thought. He provides a mathematical framework for the analysis of taxation, considered both as the counterpart of the benefits received from the State and of the taxpayer's ability to pay. This article examines Fauveau's contribution to fiscal theory. This consists of modelling his two major ideas: as the first author to apply insurance theory to the calculation of an equitable tax, and expressing in mathematical terms Condorcet's principles of taxation. The novelty of his analysis lies in proving, in both cases, the optimality of progressive or of proportional taxation. To give a complete overview of Fauveau's ideas on fiscal theory we present in an appendix two other contributions on taxation that were published separately. Keywords: Fauveau; fiscal theory; progressive taxation; mathematical economics; French political economy; public economics; insurance theory (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:eujhet:v:17:y:2010:i:4:p:813-835 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2010.500738 Access Statistics for this article The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought is currently edited by José Luís Cardoso More articles in The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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