Pareto Efficiency from Lausanne to the United States: The Role of Maurice Allais

Abstract

This chapter tells the story of how the concept of Pareto efficiency was shipped from Lausanne to the modern US theory of competitive general equilibrium, focusing on the specific role of Maurice Allais. It identifies similarities in both epistemological approach and theoretical achievements realized first by Pareto, then by Allais, and finally by Debreu and Arrow and Hahn. It also shows that these similarities are not casual, since historical circumstances account for the influence of Pareto on Allais and later of Allais on Arrow and Debreu.

Citation

Berthonnet, I. (2024), "Pareto Efficiency from Lausanne to the United States: The Role of Maurice Allais", Fiorito, L., Scheall, S. and Suprinyak, C.E. (Ed.) Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology: Including a Symposium on John Kenneth Galbraith: Economic Structures and Policies for the Twenty-first Century (Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, Vol. 41C), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 109-129. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0743-41542024000041C007