COURNOT (Augustin).
Researches into the Mathematical Principles of the Theory of Wealth. Translated by Nathaniel T. Bacon with a Bibliography of Mathematical Economics by Irving Fisher.
A PIONEER OF MATHEMATICAL ECONOMICS
The first English translation of Cournot’s groundbreaking contribution to mathematical economics, originally published in French in 1838 under the title Recherches sur les principes mathématiques de la théorie des richesses. Cournot was ‘the first writer to define and draw a demand curve and also the first to make serious use of calculus to solve a maximisation problem in economics. Indeed, reading Research into the Mathematical Principles of the Theory of Wealth it is difficult to believe the date of publication: a mere 15 years after the death of Ricardo and 10 years before the appearance of Mill’s Principles. Needles to say, Cournot’s book was totally ignored when it first appeared. He was so discouraged by its reception that he gave up economics for 25 years, returning to it in later works in which he abandoned the language of mathematics in a vain effort to be more readable’ (Blaug).
The present English translation was undertaken by Nathaniel T. Bacon and published as part of the series of Economic Classics edited by W. J. Ashley. The English edition is of particular significance for containing an introductory essay by Irving Fisher on Cournot and Mathematical Economics as well as a bibliography on Mathematical Economics from 1711 to 1897.
Fisher E-1165.
