ABSTRACT
Joseph Schumpetet, in awarding Leon Walras the title 'the greatest of all economists' for his theory of general economic equilibrium, 'superb achievement in pute theory', deplored the fact that the author attached so much importance to the questions of 'social economics' and 'applied economics' (1954, pp. 827-828). This kind of interpretation prevails throughout the twentieth century, and the greatest part of the literature dedicated to the founder of the Lausanne school is in general limited to the first field, by the study of the successive editions of the Elements of Pure Economics. The other facets of the work have remained little known, or even unheard of. In the framework of the CEuwes ei-onomiques compl2tes, the new edition in 1990-1992 of the Etudes d'iconomie sociale and the Etudes d'iconomie politique appliquie, with all the variants, together with the first edition in 1996 of the Cours d'eionomie sociale et d'eionomie politiqzle appliquie, offers the opportunity of a close re-examination of the so-called 'normative' components of 'political and social economy'.
