ABSTRACT
Cournot’s work marks a crucial step in the development of economics. Using the theory of functions, he developed the theory of price determination in partial equilibrium and, when dealing with the duopoly, he highlighted the issue of strategic interdependence. He develops the concepts that allow the study of the economic system as a whole, by introducing the distinction between nominal and real variations of social income, and by demonstrating the principle of the compensation of demands. He uses these results to analyse the effects, not only on prices but on real income, of a tax on the price of a product and the effects of unilateral trade liberalisation
