So I recently finished an audiobook about Léon Walras (pronounced “Valras”), a French economist who was alive from the years 1834 to 1910. I knew almost nothing about him before I listened to this audiobook about his work, I am sad to say. So I learned a lot from it, which was good for someone like me to know about. (Although I was basically an economics minor, I didn't hear Mr. Walras's name until well after I had graduated. So if you haven't heard of him, you're not alone – although I had heard some of his ideas before, I had never heard of him personally before I graduated.)
Walras was influenced by the classical economists like Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill, who mostly lived long before his time. But he also had an influence himself on the neoclassical economists (like Alfred Marshall) that came after his time. Although he definitely contributed much to economic theory, his biggest contribution may have been what's called “general equilibrium theory.” This is just a theory of balance in supply and demand. Put briefly, it's the idea that markets tend towards equilibrium in the long run, at least under certain conditions. If you've ever seen supply and demand curves in your microeconomics class, they are a legacy of Mr. Walras. I had seen these graphs way back in my econ classes, but this was the first time that I had ever heard the history behind them. Thus, this was good for me to hear.
Léon Walras
Léon Walras was also a pioneer in the use of math to study economics. Although he admitted that he was not very good at using calculus (by the standards of economists), he was nonetheless a pioneer in applying it to economics in this early period of its history. It would fall to others (such as his disciple Alfred Marshall) to apply more complicated mathematics to the study of economics. Much work in general equilibrium theory has been done since his death, and Nobel Prizes have been awarded to people who did research on this theory.
Alfred Marshall
As this audiobook notes, he did not give the mathematical “proofs” needed to show that general equilibrium theory really does reflect how the world works; but such proofs were beyond the computational capabilities of any nineteenth-century economist. He did lay the groundwork, however, for other economists to do so after his time. These later economists used modern computers to prove general equilibrium theory with the needed sophistication. I wouldn't recommend this audiobook to everyone, I should nonetheless make clear; since even though it doesn't use any math in it, it's still pretty technical stuff. Nonetheless, it was a good audiobook for someone like me, and it taught me something about the history of economics.
See also:
Part of the audiobook series
Great Economic Thinkers
The Vision of Léon Walras
See also the audiobook series
Secrets of the Great Investors
Others to be covered later
See also the audiobook series
The Giants of Political Thought
Others to be covered later
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