Allais Alphonse

1947 · rif. 16078 — Paris: Imprimerie National 1947. First edition of Allais' groundbreaking work. Octavo 2 volumes original wrappers as issued. Inscribed by Maurice Allais on the title page of volume one. From the library of fellow Nobel Prize-winning economist Kenneth Arrow with his name in each volume. In near fine condition with light shelfwear minor mending to the first few pages of volume one. A nice association linking these two Nobel Prize winning-economists and giants of twentieth century economics. In Économie & Intérêt Maurice Allais introduced the first overlapping generations model later popularized by Paul Samuelson in 1958 introduced the golden rule of optimal growth later popularized by Edmund Phelps or described the transaction demand for money rule later found in William Baumol's work. In 1988 Maurice Allais became the first French citizen to receive the Nobel Prize in economics. He won it for his contribution to the understanding of market behavior and the efficient use of resources. Allais also showed that his insights could be applied to help set efficient prices for state-owned monopolies of which France had many. Allais’s work paralleled and sometimes preceded similar work done by English-speaking economists Sir John Hicks and Paul Samuelson. He also proved a result in growth theory in 1947 that had been credited to Edmund Phelps. Allais did not get credit as early as his English counterparts because his work was in French. “Had Allais’ earliest writings been in English” commented Paul Samuelson “a generation of economic theory would have taken a different course.” Imprimerie National unknown