Three Essays on the State of Economic Science

“In this important new book Professor Koopmans strives to achieve three major objectives: First, to make available to the nonmathematical economist the achievements in a certain branch of matheamtical economics, namely the branch dealing with the properties of competitive equilibrium, both descriptively and normatively, and the closely related problem of efficient allocation of resources through a price system. Second, to present his methodological credo on the construction of knowledge in economics. Third, to display the effectiveness of the “new” mathematics, linear algebra and point set topology, in the formulation and solution of the economist’s problems.” — Andreas G. Papandreou

Paperback: Martino Fine Books | January 2013 | ISBN: 1614273863 & 9781614273868

2012 Reprint of 1957 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Tjalling Charles Koopmans (1910–1985) was the joint winner, with Leonid Kantorovich, of the 1975 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. In 1944 Koopmans joined the Cowles Commission for Research in Economics at the University of Chicago, where he extended his technique to a wide variety of economic problems. When the commission was relocated to Yale University in 1955, Koopmans moved with it, becoming professor of economics at Yale. He wrote a widely read book on the methodology of economic analysis, Three Essays on the State of Economic Science in 1957. Essays are: “Allocation of Resources and the Price System,” The Construction of Economic Knowledge,” and “The Interaction of Tools and Problems in Economics.”