'On the Application of Mathematics to Political Economy'. The Edgeworth-Walras-Bortkievicz Controversy, 1889-1891

In the period of the first spread and consolidation of mathematical economics there was impotant debate on Walras’s theor y of exchange involving Edgeworth, Walras and Bor tkievicz directly, and Marshall indirectly. The dispute may be traced back to issues involving the role of abstract reasoning and the use of mathematics in economics. The discussion reveals the clash of different methodological requirements: on the one hand, there is Walras’s requirement of rigour and simplicity allowed by the reduction of economics to mathematical treatment; on the other hand, there is Edgeworth’s requirement of greater realism in the model.