IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/gre/wpaper/2019-06.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Nature humaine et choix rationnel : Pareto contre Walras ?

Author

Listed:
  • Richard Arena

    (Université Côte d'Azur, France
    GREDEG CNRS)

  • Ludovic Ragni

    (Université Côte d'Azur, France
    GREDEG CNRS)

Abstract

The article shows that there is a profound contrast between the concepts of economics that Walras and Pareto support. This contrast is based on the way each author views human nature and, from this the pricing mechanisms and forms of rationality they assign to the agents. We show that Walras’ approach to human nature structures the connection he proposes between pure, applied and social economics while Pareto’s leads him to methodologically separate his pure economics from his sociology. According to Walras the starting point of the study of economics is not market exchange between rational individuals as many authors propose, but a specific conception of human nature that promotes a synthesis between pure and social economies. However, we show that Pareto separates pure economics and sociology by means of specific representations of real man and homo œconomicus. These differences imply that Walras and Pareto’s works no longer be related in the same way to the Lausanne School.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Arena & Ludovic Ragni, 2019. "Nature humaine et choix rationnel : Pareto contre Walras ?," GREDEG Working Papers 2019-06, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    • Handle: RePEc:gre:wpaper:2019-06
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.gredeg.cnrs.fr/working-papers/GREDEG-WP-2019-06.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2019
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sen, Amartya, 2005. "Why Exactly Is Commitment Important For Rationality?," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(1), pages 5-14, April.
    2. Donald A. Walker, 1990. "Institutions and Participants in Walras's Model of Oral Pledges Markets," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 41(4), pages 651-668.
    3. Muriel Dal-Pont Legrand & Harald Hagemann, 2019. "Impulses and Propagation Mechanisms in Equilibrium Business Cycles Theories: From Interwar Debates to DSGE "Consensus"," GREDEG Working Papers 2019-01, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    4. Marchionatti, Roberto & Gambino, Enrico, 1997. "Pareto and Political Economy as a Science: Methodological Revolution and Analytical Advances in Economic Theory in the 1890s," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(6), pages 1322-1348, December.
    5. Ludovic Ragni, 2011. "La méthode mathématique chez Walras et Cournot : comparaison et enjeux de discorde," Post-Print halshs-00727147, HAL.
    6. Drakopoulos, Stavros A, 1990. "The Implicit Psychology of the Theory of the Rational Consumer: An Interpretation," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(55), pages 182-198, December.
    7. Claire Baldin & Ludovic Ragni, 2016. "Theorie parétienne des élites et moment machiavélien," Post-Print halshs-01278139, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Richard Arena & Katia Caldari, 2019. "Léon Walras and Alfred Marshall: Microeconomic Rational Choice or Human and Social Nature?," GREDEG Working Papers 2019-33, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    2. Richard Arena & Katia Caldari, 2019. "Léon Walras and Alfred Marshall : microeconomic rational choice or human and social nature?," Working Papers halshs-02400844, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Claire Baldin & Ludovic Ragni, 2019. "Note sur quelques limites de la méthodologie de Pareto et ses interprétations," GREDEG Working Papers 2019-02, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    2. Claire Baldin & Ludovic Ragni, 2019. "La conception de l'homme dans la théorie de l'Echange Composite de François Perroux : entre homo economicus et homo religiosus," GREDEG Working Papers 2019-03, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    3. Sousa, Tania & Domingos, Tiago, 2006. "Is neoclassical microeconomics formally valid? An approach based on an analogy with equilibrium thermodynamics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 160-169, June.
    4. Nicolas Bouleau, 2013. "The Environmental Violence of Volatility," CIRED Working Papers halshs-00835669, HAL.
    5. Jean-Sébastien Lenfant, 2021. "Eugen (Evgeny Evgenievich) Slutsky (1880-1948)," Working Papers hal-03628273, HAL.
    6. Luca Timponelli, 2021. "From Pareto to Bridgman: The Operational Turn of Samuelson, Sraffa and Leontief," Annals of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi. An Interdisciplinary Journal of Economics, History and Political Science, Fondazione Luigi Einaudi, Torino (Italy), vol. 55(1), pages 303-328, June.
    7. Erasmo, Valentina, 2021. "Female economists and philosophers’ role in Amartya Sen’s thought: his colleagues and his scholars," MPRA Paper 105769, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Vincent Carret, 2020. "And yet it rocks! Fluctuations and growth in Ragnar Frisch's rocking horse model," Working Papers halshs-02969773, HAL.
    9. Giuseppe Attanasi & Kene Boun My & Nikolaos Georgantzís & Miguel Ginés, 2019. "Strategic Ethics: Altruism without the Other-Regarding Confound," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 70(6), pages 967-998.
    10. Silvestri, Paolo, 2015. "Disputed (Disciplinary) Boundaries. Philosophy, Economics, Value Judgments," CESMEP Working Papers 201504, University of Turin.
    11. Diana Dmitrievna Burkaltseva & Oleg Valerievich Boychenko & Olga Sergeevna Sivash & Nicholas Maksimovich Mazur & Snezhana Anatolyevna Zotova & Aleksey Valeryevich Novikov, 2017. "The Construction of the Digital Organizational, Social and Economic Production Mechanism in the Agro-industry," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(4B), pages 350-365.
    12. Charles Ayoubi & Michele Pezzoni & Fabiana Visentin, 2021. "Does It Pay to Do Novel Science? The Selectivity Patterns in Science Funding," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 48(5), pages 635-648.
    13. Michael McLure, 2005. "Pareto on the History of Economic Thought as an Aspect of Experimental Economics," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 05-22, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    14. Marchionatti, Roberto & Sella, Lisa, 2015. "Is Neo-Walrasian Macroeconomics a Dead End?," CESMEP Working Papers 201502, University of Turin.
    15. Benedetta Giovanola, 2009. "Re-Thinking the Anthropological and Ethical Foundation of Economics and Business: Human Richness and Capabilities Enhancement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 88(3), pages 431-444, September.
    16. Roberto Marchionatti & Fiorenzo Mornati, 2016. "Economic Theories in Competition - A New Narrative of the Debate on the General Economic Equilibrium Theory in the 1930s," Panoeconomicus, Savez ekonomista Vojvodine, Novi Sad, Serbia, vol. 63(5), pages 503-523.
    17. Claire Baldin & Ludovic Ragni, 2015. "Théorie des élites parétienne et moment machiavélien comme principes explicatifs de la dynamique sociale : les limites de la méthode des approximations successives," GREDEG Working Papers 2015-19, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    18. Dongshuang Hou & Aymeric Lardon & Panfei Sun & Genjiu Xu, 2019. "Sharing a Polluted River under Waste Flow Control," GREDEG Working Papers 2019-23, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    19. Nobuyuki Hanaki, 2020. "Cognitive ability and observed behavior in laboratory experiments: implications for macroeconomic theory," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 71(3), pages 355-378, July.
    20. Claire Baldin & Ludovic Ragni, 2014. "La rupture du moment machiavélien dans l’économie et la sociologie politique de Pareto : risque d’incohérence pour la méthode des approximations successives," Post-Print halshs-01241318, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Walras; Pareto; Lausanne School; Human Nature; Sociology; Rationality;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gre:wpaper:2019-06. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Patrice Bougette (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/credcfr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.