Manual of Political Economy : A Critical and Variorum Edition

Vilfredo Pareto's __Manual of Political Economy__ is a "classic" study in the history of economic thought for many reasons, the most noteworthy of which include the setting of general equilibrium economics within a choice theoretic framework based on the opposition between tastes and obstacles; the definitive formulation of economic efficiency, including the surplus approach to collective welfare; the technically flawed but nonetheless insightful treatment of path dependence in consumer theory; and the introduction of non-competitive market analysis to the general equilibrium economics. In so doing, Pareto's general study of economic equilibrium not only substantially extended the contributions to economic theory made by Leon Walras, his predecessor in the Chair of Political Economy at the University of Lausanne, it did so in a manner that was often contrary to Walras's own thinking on the formalisation of economic theory. . This English language "critical edition" of Pareto's __Manual of Political Economy__ - a revised and extended translation of the 'Edizione critica' published in Italian in 2006 - is a very significant book for two main reasons. First, it is the only variorum translation of the Italian language Manuale di Economia Politica, originally published in 1906, and the subsequent French language Manuel d'Economie Politique, originally published in 1909. Second, it includes extensive contributions from the editors including annotations, to clarify particular points in Pareto's text; editors' notes, to critically reflect on major themes in Pareto's text and to draw attention to the historical influences that led to their development and their anticipation of, or influence on, subsequent ideas that emerged in economics; and notes to the 1909 mathematical appendix, to highlight the mix of insight and imperfection in Pareto's mathematical economics. Cover 1 Manual of Political Economy 4 Copyright 5 CONTENTS 6 FOREWORD TO THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION 8 FOREWORD TO THE 2006 ITALIAN EDITION 10 EDITORS’ INTRODUCTORY NOTE 12 1. EDITIONS AND REPRINTS OF THE “MANUALE” AND OF THE “MANUEL 12 2. THE PRESENT MANUALE—MANUEL 15 3. THE INDICES 16 4. PARAGRAPH NUMBERING 19 5. TRANSLATION OF SOME WORDS 19 6. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 20 7. SOME ABBREVIATIONS 21 Index of Chapters 30 CHAPTERI,PP.1–19 30 General Principles 30 CHAPTER II, PP. 20–71 31 Introduction to Social Science 31 CHAPTER III, PP. 72–124 32 The General Concept of Economic Equilibrium 32 CHAPTER IV, PP. 125–44 33 Tastes 33 CHAPTER V, PP. 145–72 34 Obstacles 34 CHAPTER VI, PP. 173–91 34 Economic Equilibrium 34 CHAPTER VII, PP. 192–219 35 CHAPTER VIII, PP. 220–31 35 Landed Capital and Capital Goods Proper 35 CHAPTER IX, PP. 232–72 36 The Concrete Economic Phenomenon 36 APPENDIX (1906), PP. 273–308 37 APPENDIX (1909), PP. 309–97 37 NOTE 39 PREFACE TO THE FIRST (1906) EDITION 40 CHAPTER I: General Principles 44 CHAPTER II: Introduction to Social Science 63 CHAPTER III: The General Concept of Economic Equilibrium 115 CHAPTER IV: Tastes 168 CHAPTER V: Obstacles 188 CHAPTER VI: Economic Equilibrium 216 CHAPTER VII: Population 235 CHAPTER VIII: Landed Capital and Capital Goods Proper 263 CHAPTER IX: The Concrete Economic Phenomenon 275 Appendix to the Italian (1906) Edition 316 Appendix to the French (1909) Edition 352 Index of Subjects 441 Authors’Names Index 446 Annotations by John Chipman 449 Annotations from the 2006 Italian Edition 522 Editors’Notes 555 E.N. 1. SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE IN COMTE, J. S. MILL, AND PARETO 555 E.N. 2. PARETO AND MARSHALL ON MECHANICAL ANALOGY AND BIOLOGICAL ANALOGY 556 E.N. 3. THE COURS, THE MANUAL, AND THE 2ND EDITION OF THE COURS THAT NEVER SAW THE LIGHT OF DAY 557 E.N. 4. AN ASSESSMENT OF PARETO BY BENEDETTO CROCE 561 E.N. 5. THE THREE LEVELS OF KNOWLEDGE IN PARETO 562 E.N. 6. PARETO THE MANAGER WANTS TO WRITE A TREATISE ON RATIONAL ECONOMICS 563 E.N. 7. STATICS AND DYNAMICS 565 E.N. 8. PARETO’S 1902 ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRY ON MATHEMATICAL ECONOMICS 566 E.N. 9. MISUNDERSTANDINGS ON PARETO’S “TYPE I” AND “TYPE II 567 E.N. 10. PATHS 568 E.N. 11. TERMINAL POINTS 570 E.N. 12. THE LINE OF COMPLETE TRANSFORMATIONS AND THE INDIFFERENCE LINES OF THE PRODUCER 571 E.N. 13. THE INCOME–CONSUMPTION CURVE AND THE PRICE–CONSUMPTION CURVE: ON A FIGURE BY PARETO 572 E.N. 14. PARETO FROM CARDINALISM TO ORDINALISM AND THE IDENTIFICATION OF PREFERENCES 574 E.N. 15. PARETO AND THE ALTERNATIVE BETWEEN PREFERENCES AND DEMAND 578 E.N. 15. BIS. PARETO–HICKS AND ZAWADSKI–SLUTSKY 579 E.N. 17. INCREASING AND DECREASING COSTS, MARGINAL AND NON-MARGINAL EQUILIBRIA IN PARETO 582 E.N. 18. COMPLETE AND INCOMPLETE COMPETITION AND RELEVANT GRAPHS 584 E.N. 19. EDGEWORTH BOX AND PARETO BOX 584 E.N. 20. PARETO AND EDGEWORTH ON CONTRADICTORINESS ANDINDETERM INATENESS, AND ABOUT AMOROSO AND STACKELBERG 588 E.N. 21. STRATEGIC BEHAVIOR IN THE COURSE OF IMITATIVE COMPETITION 590 E.N. 22. ON TRIFFIN’S CRITICISM OF PARETO’S INCREASING COST MONOPOLIST 590 E.N. 23. MARGINAL RATE OF SUBSTITUTION AND CHOICE THEORY 591 E.N. 24. PARETO ON ‘NO BRIDGE’, ‘REPRESENTATIVE INDIVIDUALS’, AND ‘HAPPINESS’ 592 E.N. 25. NEEDS AND PREFERENCES: PARETO AND THE MOST IMPORTANT LAW OF POLITICAL ECONOMY 594 E.N. 26. PURSUIT CURVES IN THE COURS AND IN THE MANUAL 598 E.N. 27. PRODUCTION COEFFICIENTS IN PARETO’S COURS 600 E.N. 28. PARETO AND KEYNES ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE BENEFITS OF TECHNICAL PROGRESS 602 E.N. 29. THE ENTREPRENEURS’ HILL IN PARETO’S SOCIOLOGY 603 E.N. 30. EFFECTIVE COMPETITION AND PARASITIC COMPETITION IN PARETO THE SOCIOLOGIST-ECONOMIST 604 E.N. 31. ECONOMICS AND THE “STATE” IN PARETO 609 E.N. 32. COURNOT, WALRAS, AND PARETO ON COMPETITION, MONOPOLY, AND COLLECTIVE WELFARE, ENDING UP WITH A DISCUSSION OF CAPITALIST DYNAMICS IN THE WORK OF PARETO AND PANTALEONI 613 E.N. 33. A CONSIDERATION ON THE PURE THEORY OF COLLECTIVISM 626 E.N. 35. A CASE OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC DYNAMICS APPLIED TO A MONETARY PROBLEM 628 E.N. 36. EDUCATION, SOCIALISM, AND FREE EXCHANGE 628 E.N. 37. PARETO’S POLEMIC ON PARETO’S LAW 629 E.N. 38. ON THE PARETO–GAETANO MOSCA POLEMIC 630 E.N. 39. PARETO, THE PERFECT UNIT OF MEASURE, AND PRICES OF PRODUCTION 630 E.N. 40. “SIMPLE SAVINGS”, “CAPITAL SAVINGS”, AND SOME REMARKS ON MONEY IN PARETO 632 E.N. 41. ON THE WORD “MONETA” AND ON PARETO’S REFUSAL TO BE HIS OWN TRANSLATOR 638 E.N. 42. PARETO AND THE THREE MEANINGS OF THE WORD “CAMBIO” (“EXCHANGE”) 639 E.N. 43. GOVERNMENTS, THE REDISCOUNT RATE, AND PUBLIC DEBT 640 E.N. 44. PARETO AND MARSHALL ON BIMETALLISM 641 E.N. 45. PARETO AND THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE MONEY-COMMODITY 642 E.N. 46. HABIT AND RATIONALITY IN CHOOSING, IN PARETO 642 E.N. 47. THE ASPIRATION TO RISE AND THE FEAR OF FAILURE IN PARETO’S ENTREPRENEUR 643 E.N. 48. IDEAS AND INTERESTS IN PARETO AND IN KEYNES 644 E.N. 49. PARETO ON RICARDO’S AND BASTABLE’S COMPARATIVE COSTS 644 E.N. 50. A FIRST MATHEMATICAL NOTE BY PARETO 649 E.N. 51. PARETO AND THE ITALIAN CONTROVERSY ON DUMPING: WHERE THERE IS ALSO AREFE RENCE TO DUPUI 649 E.N. 52. A SECOND MATHEMATICAL NOTE BY PARETO 650 E.N. 53. PARETO AND EINAUDI ON PROTECTIONISM AND LOGIC 651 E.N. 54. ON PARETO’S QUOTATIONS AND HIS PERCEIVED LACK OF GENEROSITY 652 E.N. 55. PARETO’S PANPOLITICISM AND THE MAXIMUM OF UTILITY IN SOCIOLOGY 653 E.N. 56. JUGLAR CYCLES AND PARETO–KONDRATIEFF LONG WAVES 654 E.N. 57. ON PARETO THE (DELUDED) ENLIGHTENMENT FOLLOWER AND ON PARETO THE (DISILLUSIONED) ANTI-ENLIGHTENMENT THINKER 656 E.N. 58. LAUSANNE AND CAMBRIDGE: SECOND-GENERATION LEADERS 658 Notes to the French Appendix 664 Index of Authors Cited by the Editors 703 Vilfredo Pareto's Manual of Political Economy is a "classic" study in the history of economic thought for many reasons, the most noteworthy of which include the setting of general equilibrium economics within a choice theoretic framework based on the opposition between tastes and obstacles; the definitive formulation of economic efficiency, including the surplus approach to collective welfare; the technically flawed but nonetheless insightful treatment of path dependence in consumer theory; and the introduction of non-competitive market analysis to the general equilibrium economics. In so doing, Pareto's general study of economic equilibrium not only substantially extended the contributions to economic theory made by Leon Walras, his predecessor in the Chair of Political Economy at the University of Lausanne, it did so in a manner that was often contrary to Walras's own thinking on the formalisation of economic theory. This English language "critical edition" of Pareto's Manual of Political Economy - a revised and extended translation of the 'Edizione critica' published in Italian in 2006 - is a very significant book for two main reasons. First, it is the only variorum translation of the Italian language Manuale di Economia Politica, originally published in 1906, and the subsequent French language Manuel d'Economie Politique, originally published in 1909. Second, it includes extensive contributions from the editors including annotations, to clarify particular points in Pareto's text; editors' notes, to critically reflect on major themes in Pareto's text and to draw attention to the historical influences that led to their development and their anticipation of, or influence on, subsequent ideas that emerged in economics; and notes to the 1909 mathematical appendix, to highlight the mix of insight and imperfection in Pareto's mathematical economics -- Provided by Publisher Vilfredo Pareto's Manual of Political Economy is a'classic'study in the history of economic thought for many reasons, the most noteworthy of which include the setting of general equilibrium economics within a choice theoretic framework based on the opposition between tastes and obstacles; the definitive formulation of economic efficiency, including the surplus approach to collective welfare; the technically flawed but nonetheless insightful treatment of path dependence in consumer theory; and the introduction of non-competitive market analysis to the general equilibrium economics. In so doing, Pareto's general study of economic equilibrium not only substantially extended the contributions to economic theory made by Léon Walras, his predecessor in the Chair of Political Economy at the University of Lausanne, it did so in a manner that was often contrary to Walras's own thinking on the formalisation of economic theory. This English language'critical edition'of Pareto's Manual of Political Economy - a revised and extended translation of the'Edizione critica'published in Italian in 2006 - is a very significant book for two main reasons. First, it is the only variorum translation of the Italian language Manuale di Economia Politica, originally published in 1906, and the subsequent French language Manuel d'Économie Politique, originally published in 1909. Second, it includes extensive contributions from the editors including annotations, to clarify particular points in Pareto's text; editors'notes, to critically reflect on major themes in Pareto's text and to draw attention to the historical influences that led to their development and their anticipation of, or influence on, subsequent ideas that emerged in economics; and notes to the 1909 mathematical appendix, to highlight the mix of insight and imperfection in Pareto's mathematical economics. Pareto is credited with helping the development of microeconomics. His Manuale of Political Economy in Italian in 1906 (French ed. 1909) introduced the analytical approach that has informed a significant part of 20th century economic thinking. This is a revised and extended translation of the Italian 100th anniversary critical edition.