Being Neoclassical Before it was Cool to be Neoclassical: The Case of the Theory of the Firm

Abstract

This paper looks at the contribution made by pre-1870 writers in economics (proto-neoclassicals) to what would later become known as the neoclassical theory of the firm. In particular we briefly consider the work of Dionysius Lardner, Johann von Thünen, John Stuart Mill, Charles Ellet, Jr. and Antoine Augustin Cournot. This paper shows that the proto-neoclassical "theory of the firm" gave rise to the neoclassical theory of markets.

Keywords: history of economic thought, history of the theory of the firm, organisational economics, perfect competition, monopoly, oligopoly

JEL Classification: B12, B13, D20, D41, D42, D43