Abstract
Cournot's views on the effects of international trade on social income have received little attention. Drawing upon a comprehensive analysis of Cournot's writings, this article shows that Cournot distinguished between variations in nominal income and variations in real income. He introduced the principle of compensation of demands: if the price of a commodity changes, the value of the total demand for other commodities remains unchanged. He relied on this principle to demonstrate that a unilateral removal of trade restrictions can cause real income to fall. Under specific circumstances, protective tariffs may be warranted. Cournot thus endorsed the infant-industry argument without being a die-hard protectionist. The article discusses the arguments of his critics and concludes that many commentators have misrepresented his thinking.
The text of this article is only available as a PDF.
References
Amiti, Mary, Stephen J. Redding, and David E. Weinstein.
2019
. “The Impact of the 2018 Trade War on U.S. Prices and Welfare
.” Journal of Economic Perspectives
33
, no. 4
: 187
–210
.Angell, James W.
1926
. The Theory of International Trade: History, Criticism, and Restatement
. Harvard Economic Studies 28. Cambridge, Mass.
: Harvard University Press
.Angrist, Noam, Pinelopi K. Goldberg, and Dean Jolliffe.
2021
. “Why Is Growth in Developing Countries So Hard to Measure?
” Journal of Economic Perspectives
35
, no. 3
: 215
–42
.Barrault, Henry Émile.
1912
. “Les doctrines de Cournot sur le commerce international
.” Revue d'histoire des doctrines économiques et sociales
5
:110
–24
.Bastable, Francis.
1887
. The Theory of International Trade with Some of Its Applications to Economic Policy.
Dublin
: Hodges, Figgis
.Béraud, Alain, and Guy Numa.
2023
. “Antoine-Augustin Cournot and the Emergence of Mathematical Economics
.” In A History of Economic Thought in France
, edited by G. Faccarello and C. Silvant. London
: Routledge
, forthcoming.Bertrand, Joseph.
1883
. Review of Théorie de la richesse sociale
, by Léon Walras, and Recherches sur les principes mathématiques de la théorie des richesses, by Augustin Cournot. Journal des savants, September
, 499
–508
.Chipman, John S.
1965
. “A Survey of the Theory of International Trade
.” Pt. 1, “The Classical Theory.” Econometrica
33
, no. 3
: 477
–519
.Coyle, Diane.
2016
. GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History
. Rev. and expanded ed. Princeton, N.J.
: Princeton University Press
.Cournot, Antoine-Augustin. (1838)
1980
. Recherches sur les principes mathématiques de la théorie des richesses
. Vol. 8 of Œuvres complètes, edited by G. Jorland. Paris
: Vrin
.Cournot, Antoine-Augustin. (1863)
1981
. Principes de la théorie des richesses
. Vol. 9
of Œuvres complètes, edited by G. Jorland. Paris
: Vrin
.Cournot, Antoine-Augustin. (1877)
1982
. Revue sommaire des doctrines économiques
. Vol. 10 of Œuvres complètes, edited by G. Jorland. Paris
: Vrin
.Creedy, John.
1992
. “Cournot on Trade between Regions and the Transition from Partial to General Equilibrium
.” History of Economics Review
18
, no. 1
: 10
–18
.Daughety, Andrew F.
2008
. “Cournot Competition
.” In The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics
, edited by Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume, 2408
–16
. 2nd ed. London
: Palgrave Macmillan
.Deaton, Angus.
2013
. The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality
. Princeton, N.J.
: Princeton University Press
.Dupuit, Jules.
1844
. “De la mesure de l'utilité des travaux publics
.” Annales des ponts et chaussées
8
, no. 116
: 332
–75
.Edgeworth, Francis Y.
1894
. “Theory of International Values
.” Pt. 3. Economic Journal
4
, no. 16
: 606
–38
.Edgeworth, Francis Y.
1897
. “Teoria pura del monopolo
.” Giornale degli economisti
15
:13
–21
, 307
–20
, 405
–14
.Fajgelbaum, Pablo D., Pinelopi K. Goldberg, Patrick J. Kennedy, and Amit K. Khandelwal.
2020
. “The Return to Protectionism
.” Quarterly Journal of Economics
135
, no. 1
: 1
–55
.Fisher, Irving.
1898
. “Cournot and Mathematical Economics
.” Quarterly Journal of Economics
12
, no. 2
: 119
–38
.Fontenay, Roger de.
1864
. “Principes de la théorie des richesses par M. Cournot
.” Journal des Économistes
, 2nd ser., 43
:231
–51
.Gomes, Leonard.
1990
. Neoclassical International Economics: An Historical Survey
. New York
: St. Martin's Press
.Hagen, Karl Heinrich.
1844
. Die Nothwendigkeit der Handelsfreiheit für das Nationaleinkommen: Mathematisch nachgewiesen
. Königsberg
: Gräfe und Unzer
.Hume, David. (1752)
1955
. Of the Balance of Trade
. In Writings on Economics, edited by Eugene Rotwein, 60
–77
. London
: Nelson
.Irwin, Douglas A.
1991
. “Retrospectives: Challenges to Free Trade
.” Journal of Economic Perspectives
5
, no. 2
: 201
–8
.Malthus, Thomas Robert. (1820)
1989
. Principles of Political Economy
. Variorum ed. Edited by John Pullen. Cambridge
: Cambridge University Press
.Ménard, Claude.
1978
. La formation d'une rationalité économique: Cournot
. Paris
: Flammarion
.Mill, John Stuart.
1844
. “Of the Laws of Interchange between Nations and the Distribution of the Gains of Commerce among the Countries of the Commercial World
.” In Essays on Some Unsettled Questions of Political Economy
. London
: John W. Parker
.Mill, John Stuart. (1848)
1965
. Principles of Political Economy with Some of Their Applications to Social Philosophy
. Vols. 2–3
of Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, edited by J. M. Robson. Toronto
: University of Toronto Press
.Mill, John Stuart. (1852)
1965
. Principles of Political Economy with Some of Their Applications to Social Philosophy
. Vols. 2–3
of Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, edited by J. M. Robson. Toronto
: University of Toronto Press
.Mill, John Stuart.
1854
. Principes d’économie politique avec quelques-unes de leurs applications à l’économie sociale
. Translated by Hippolyte Dussard and Jean-Gustave Courcelle Seneuil. Paris
: Guillaumin
.Negishi, Takashi.
2014
. Developments of International Trade Theory
. 2nd enhanced ed. Tokyo
: Springer
.Numa, Guy.
2019
. “Jean-Baptiste Say on Free Trade
.” History of Political Economy
51
, no. 5
: 901
–34
.Pareto, Vilfredo.
1892
. “Di un errore del Cournot nel trattare colla matematica
.” Giornale degli economisti
, 2nd ser.
, 3rd year, 4
:1
–14
.Ricardo, David. (1817)
1951
. Principles of Political Economy
. Vol. 1 of The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, edited by P. Sraffa. Cambridge
: Cambridge University Press
.Say, Jean-Baptiste. (1828–29)
2010
. Cours complet d’économie politique pratique
. Variorum ed. Edited by E. Blanc, P.-H. Goutte, and J.-P. Potier. Vol. 2
of Œuvres complètes de Jean-Baptiste Say. Paris
: Economica
.Solow, Robert.
2008
. “Cournot and the Social Income
.” In Augustin Cournot: Modelling Economics
, edited by Jean-Philippe Touffut, 106
–15
. Cheltenham
: Edward Elgar
.Smith, Adam. (1762–63).
1978
. Lectures on Jurisprudence: Report of 1762–3
. Edited by R. L. Meek, D. D. Raphael, and P. G. Stein. In vol. 5 of The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith. Oxford
: Clarendon Press
.Smith, Adam. (1766)
1976
. Lectures on Jurisprudence: Report Dated 1766
. Edited by R. L. Meek, D. D. Raphael, and P. G. Stein. In vol. 5 of The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith. Oxford
: Clarendon Press
.Smith, Adam. (1776)
1976
. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
. Edited by R. H. Campbell and A. S. Skinner; textual editor, W. B. Todd. 2
vols. Vol. 2 of The Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence of Adam Smith. Oxford
: Clarendon Press
.Stiglitz, Joseph, Amartya Sen, and Jean Paul Fitoussi.
2010
. Mismeasuring Our Lives: Why GDP Doesn't Add Up
. New York
: New Press
.Theocharis, Reghinos D.
1983
. Early Developments in Mathematical Economics
. 2nd ed. Philadelphia
: Porcupine Press
.Torrens, Robert.
1821
. An Essay on the Production of Wealth
. London
: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown
.Vatin, François.
1998
. Économie politique et économie naturelle chez Antoine-Augustin Cournot.
Paris
: Presses Universitaires de France
.Viner, Jacob.
1937
. Studies in the Theory of International Trade.
London
: Allen & Unwin
.Walras Léon. (1863)
1987
. Review of Principes de la théorie des richesses, by Augustin Cournot. In Mélanges d’économie politique et sociale, 155
–59
. Vol. 7 of Les œuvres économiques completes [of Auguste Walras and Léon Walras], edited by Jan van Daal and Donald Walker. Paris
: Economica
.Whewell, William. (
1850
) 1856. “Mathematical Exposition of Some Doctrines of Political Economy
.” Second memoir. Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society
9
:128
–49
.Copyright 2023 by Duke University Press
2023
Issue Section:
Articles
