ABSTRACT
The classical economists' was a name invented by Marx to cover Ricardo and James Mill and their predecessors, that is to say for the founders of the theory which culminated in the Ricardian economics. In the early 1870s, when the contributions of the three founders of the marginalist tradition were almost simultaneously published, Ricardo's, and particularly, John Stuart Mill's influence was strong. A well-known discrepancy concerns their partial and general approach to equilibrium. But the distance widens when it is assumed that another element distinguishing Marshall from Walras is that, while the former posits that market equilibrium is realized through changes in quantities, the latter considers that the adjustment is conducted by means of price movements. The unnecessary controversy, caused by the obscurity of Ricardo and the rebound of Jevons, about the respective parts played by Demand and by Cost of Production in the determination of Value was finally cleared up.
