ABSTRACT
The story of ‘Walrasian’ economic theory started around 1850. At that time, Auguste Walras, father of Léon Walras and an economist, had already published several essays on the theory of exchange value in which he had introduced his ideas, which deviated from Smithian economic theory. Convinced of the relevance of his own work, Auguste Walras insisted on joining forces with his son. Léon Walras, at a much later stage, would briefly recount this event to a younger economist as follows:
I was almost your age [22] when my father had completely initiated me into his theory of exchange value and into his theory of property…when I realized, by a clear and quick intuition, the truth of his system, and I decided to devote my life to establish the necessary deductions to link his principles of pure economics to his conclusions of social economics.
(Jaffé 1965) 1