Mathematics and Economics in J.H. von Thünen’s Natural Wage Theory

This paper addresses Johann Heinrich von Thünen's income distribution theory (1850), highlighting the way the author develops his solution to the aforementioned problem -i.e. his well-known "natural wage" formula ap - by means of four different mathematical proofs, whose assumptions, purposes, and implications are analyzed in the central part of the article. Attention is drawn on the formula resulting from the interaction of a number of maximizing individuals. Actually, at the heart of each proof is an individual optimization model, formalized through calculus. On this basis, the influence of mathematics on Thünen's economic thought is stressed