Gustave Fauveau, a French mathematician and economist of the mid-nineteenth century, presented in 1864 an innovative theory of taxation that has been largely overlooked by historians of economic thought. He provides a mathematical framework for the analysis of taxation, considered both as the...

Cover -- Half Title -- Series -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of contributors to the two volumes -- Preface -- 1 Prelude: from scholasticism to the Enlightenment -- 2 Pierre de Boisguilbert and the foundations of laissez-faire -- 3 John Law and the Mississippi System -- 4 Science of...

Prelude. From scholasticism to the Enlightenment / Thierry Demals & Gilbert Faccarello -- Pierre de Boisguilbert and the foundation of 'Laissez-faire' / Gilbert Faccarello -- John Law and the Mississippi System / Antoin E. Murphy -- Science of trade and 'commerce politique' / Thierry Demals --...

The year 1848 is considered by historians as a political and economic turning point in France: a major political crisis took place in the form of the February Revolution, accompanied by extensive financial troubles for the French government. The economists of that time actively debated the...