Auguste Walras (; 1801–1866) was a French school administrator and economist. He was the father of

Léon Walras Marie-Esprit-Léon Walras (; 16 December 1834 – 5 January 1910) was a French mathematical economist and Georgist. He formulated the marginal theory of value (independently of William Stanley Jevons and Carl Menger) and pioneered the developmen ...

, who was deeply influenced by his father's view on economics. Auguste Walras convinced his son to give up his original literary aspirations to pursue economic studies. It was his idea to take ''rareté'' (

scarcity In economics, scarcity "refers to the basic fact of life that there exists only a finite amount of human and nonhuman resources which the best technical knowledge is capable of using to produce only limited maximum amounts of each economic good. ...

) and

utility As a topic of economics, utility is used to model worth or value. Its usage has evolved significantly over time. The term was introduced initially as a measure of pleasure or happiness as part of the theory of utilitarianism by moral philosopher ...

as the source of value. He also encouraged him to use mathematical tools, probably under the inspiration of his former classmate

Augustin Cournot Antoine Augustin Cournot (; 28 August 180131 March 1877) was a French philosopher and mathematician who also contributed to the development of economics. Biography Antoine Augustin Cournot was born at Gray, Haute-Saône. In 1821 he entered on ...

. Auguste Walras found the value of goods by setting their scarcity relative to human wants. His own efforts in working out his theories did not extend beyond a sketch which Leon Walras was to draw upon. Auguste Walras' policy stance on nationalization of land was also adopted by the young Walras.

Major works

*''De la nature de la richesse et de l'origine de la valeur'' (On the nature of riches and the origin of value), 1831. *"Considérations sur la mesure de la valeur et sur la fonction de métaux precieux" (Considerations on the measure of value and the role of precious metals), 1836, ''Revue mensuelle d'économie politique'' *''Theorie de la Richesse Sociale'' (Theory of social wealth), 1849. *''Esquisse d'une Théorie de la Richesse'' (Sketch of a theory of wealth), 1863

Sources

*Walras, Léon (1908) ''Un initiateur en économie politique, A.A. Walras'', 1908, ''

La Revue du mois ''La Revue du mois'' was a scientific and literary journal founded in 1906 by Émile Borel and his wife Marguerite Appell (called Camille Marbo). Its editorial board included Jean Perrin, Paul Langevin, Aimé Cotton, Jacques Duclaux, Henri Mouto ...

'' *Walras, Léon (1965). ''Correspondence of Léon Walras and related papers''. Edited by William Jaffé. Amsterdam: North-Holland.

External links

''Un père oublié: Antoine-Auguste Walras'' (compte rendu)
on Persée {{DEFAULTSORT:Walras, Auguste 1801 births 1866 deaths French economists