ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at five proto-neoclassical economists who anticipated aspects of the neoclassical theory of the ‘firm’: Dionysius Lardner, Johann von Thunen, John Stuart Mill, Charles Ellet, and Antoine Augustin Cournot. One person who made contributes to the theory of the ‘firm’ during the later classical era, albeit a contribution largely forgotten now, was Dionysius Lardner. A second proto-neoclassical who made a contribution to the theory of the ‘firm’ is Johann von Thunen. A third, possible, proto-neoclassical, who wrote on the economics of the firm, if not strictly on the theory of the firm, was John Stuart Mill. The effects of the proto-neoclassical on the neoclassicals will be evaluated, and the long-term contributions of the proto-neoclassical writers to the economics of the firm will be considered. While classical economists did develop a theory of production, it was a theory of macro production aimed at explaining the production of an entire economy rather than being a microeconomic theory of firm production.
