Considerations on the Fundamental Principles of Pure Political Economy: (Routledge Studies in the History of Economics)

Between May 1892 and October 1893 the Giornale degli Economisti published Vilfredo Pareto’s Considerazioni sui principi fondamentali dell’economia politica pura in five parts. Viewed in its entirety, the outcome is essentially a classic monograph on the fundamental issues in pure economic theory in the Lausanne tradition. Pareto's work forms a document of major historical significance which, to date, has only been available to the relatively small number of international economists and historians of economics who read Italian. This first English language edition is a significant landmark in the history of economics.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Considerations on the Fundamental Principles of Pure Political Economy, Part 1: Introductory remarks Difficulty of the topic Explanation of the ways that have been followed in this work Various quantitative methods Various degrees of rationality in the principles assumed as the basis of this science Use of mathematics in Political Economy Precautions required by the use of the mathematical method A priori objections to the new theory Value 2.1. Object of a theory of value 2.2. The hedonistic theory 2.3. Total utility and final degree of utility 2.4. Fundamental principle of hedonistic calculus The economics of the individual 3.1. Reasons at play in determining a barter 3.2. Limit of the hedonistic theories Considerations on the Fundamental Principles of Pure Political Economy, II. (Giornale degli Economisti, June 1892) 1. Fundamental theorem of the transformation of any given number of goods 2. Final degree of utility of instrumental goods 3. Cases where the final degree of utility of money is approximately constant 4. Relationship between the final degree of utility of money and the prosperity of a people 5. The variety of human needs 6. Discontinuity of the phenomenon 7. Final degree of utility of instrumental goods of various orders Considerations on the Fundamental Principles of Pure Political Economy, III. (Giornale degli Economisti, August 1892) Supply and Demand Law of the variation of supply and demand Law of supply and demand assuming that the final degree of utility of an economic good decreases when the quantity of the latter increases Determination of the final degree of utility when the laws of demand and supply are known Need for new phenomena to be considered Numerical calculation of the final degrees of utility Usefulness of measuring the final degrees of utility Necessary qualities that restrict the laws of demand Fungible economic goods Average final degrees of utility for more than one person Total utility Considerations on the Fundamental Principles of Pure Political Economy, IV. (Giornale degli Economisti, January 1893) Fundamental property of final degrees of utility Daniel Bernoulli’s Theorem Final degree of utility of money Considerations on the Fundamental Principles of Pure Political Economy, V. (Giornale degli Economisti, October 1893) 1. Most general form of the final degrees of utility 2. Some examples of total utility 3. Final degrees of utility corresponding to particular laws of supply and demand Pareto’s Notes Editors’s Notes Index

About the Author :
Roberto Marchionatti is Professor of Economics at the University of Torino, Italy. He has been a Visiting Scholar in Economics at New York University and at the University of Cambridge, UK., Fiorenzo Mornati is Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Torino, Italy. He has been Assistant de Recherche at the University of Lausanne (Centre Walras-Pareto), Switzerland.