On 8 November 1995 we organized the conference Is Inheritance Legitimate? Ethical and Economic Aspects of Wealth Transfers at the University of Antwerp (UFSIA). The conference brought together economists, philosophers and other social scientists to discuss the issues of bequest and inheritance. The conference programme featured five invited contributions; the revised versions of these five papers consitute the core of this book (Chapters 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7). Also included in this book are the written versions of the comments presented by the two discussants (Chapters 5 and 8). We also gave the opportunity to the authors who defended two radically different opinions on bequest and inheritance to comment upon one another's position (Chapters 9 and 10). Chapter 1 serves as an introduction; it situates the debate on inheritance in a broader ethical and economic framework, and summarizes the main points of the book. The conference was organized as part of a research project funded by the Flemish Fonds voor Wetenschap'pelijk Onderzoek (project number G. 0032. 95). Within UFSIA the conference was hosted by the 'Vakgroep Arbeidseconomie' of the Studiecentrum voor Economisch en Sociaal Onderzoek (SESO) and the Centrum voor Ethiek. The secretarial staff of SESO, in particular Annernarie Bunneghem and Linda Teunkens, did an excellent job in organizing the conference. Patricia De Bruyn and Tom Schatteman were extremely helpful in preparing the manuscript for the publisher. Antwerp, January 1997. Guido Erreygers and Toon Vandevelde, Editors CONTENTS Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The core of the book consists of a selection of papers presented at an international workshop where researchers from a variety of fields and countries discussed the connections between inherited wealth, justice and equality. The volume is complemented by a few other papers commissioned by the editors. The contributions cover historical, political, philosophical, sociological and economic aspects.

Economists have not always been on friendly terms with scientists from other fields. More than once, economists have been accused of 'imperialism' or criticized for neglecting the insights obtained in other fields. The history of economics, however, yields manifold examples of interdisciplinary 'borrowing' where economists have adapted concepts and theories from other fields. This book deals with the exchanges (or sometimes the lack thereof) between economics and neighbouring disciplines.

The contributions examine specific cases and episodes taken from the history of economics, indicating that many important economists were paying attention to what happened beyond the borders of their own field. The themes covered include:

• the interaction of economics with literature, Christian theology, history, demography, and natural sciences
• the relationships between economics and policy, and economics and 'common sense'.

With contributions from leading specialists, this volume will prove essential reading not only for those working in economics, but also those interested in the possibilities of disciplinary cross-fertilisation in any subject.

Maurice Potron (1872-1942), a French Jesuit mathematician, constructed and analyzed a highly original, but virtually unknown economic model. This book presents translated versions of all his economic writings, preceded by a long introduction which sketches his life and environment based on extensive archival research and family documents. Potron had no education in economics and almost no contact with the economists of his time. His primary source of inspiration was the social doctrine of the Church, which had been updated at the end of the nineteenth century. Faced with the 'economic evils' of his time, he reacted by utilizing his talents as a mathematician and an engineer to invent and formalize a general disaggregated model in which production, employment, prices and wages are the main unknowns. He introduced four basic principles or normative conditions ('sufficient production', the 'right to rest', 'justice in exchange', and the 'right to live') to define satisfactory regimes of production and labour on the one hand, and of prices and wages on the other. He studied the conditions for the existence of these regimes, both on the quantity side and the value side, and he explored the way to implement them. This book makes it clear that Potron was the first author to develop a full input-output model, to use the Perron-Frobenius theorem in economics, to state a duality result, and to formulate the Hawkins-Simon condition. These are all techniques which now belong to the standard toolkit of economists. This book will be of interest to Economics postgraduate students and researchers, and will be essential reading for courses dealing with the history of mathematical economics in general, and linear production theory in particular.

The core of the book consists of a selection of papers presented at an international workshop where researchers from a variety of fields and countries discussed the connections between inherited wealth, justice and equality. The volume is complemented by a few other papers commissioned by the editors. The contributions cover historical, political, philosophical, sociological and economic aspects.

Maurice Potron (1872-1942), a French Jesuit mathematician, constructed and analyzed a highly original, but virtually unknown economic model. This book presents translated versions of all his economic writings, preceded by a long introduction which sketches his life and environment based on extensive archival research and family documents.

Potron had no education in economics and almost no contact with the economists of his time. His primary source of inspiration was the social doctrine of the Church, which had been updated at the end of the nineteenth century. Faced with the 'economic evils' of his time, he reacted by utilizing his talents as a mathematician and an engineer to invent and formalize a general disaggregated model in which production, employment, prices and wages are the main unknowns. He introduced four basic principles or normative conditions ('sufficient production', the 'right to rest', 'justice in exchange', and the 'right to live') to define satisfactory regimes of production and labour on the one hand, and of prices and wages on the other. He studied the conditions for the existence of these regimes, both on the quantity side and the value side, and he explored the way to implement them.

This book makes it clear that Potron was the first author to develop a full input-output model, to use the Perron-Frobenius theorem in economics, to state a duality result, and to formulate the Hawkins-Simon condition. These are all techniques which now belong to the standard toolkit of economists. This book will be of interest to Economics postgraduate students and researchers, and will be essential reading for courses dealing with the history of mathematical economics in general, and linear production theory in particular.

The science of economics has grown out of, and interacted with, other sciences, such as moral philosophy, psychology and demography. This book documents exchanges between individual scientists, and explores the boundaries between economics and neighbouring fields.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203204352

On 8 November 1995 we organized the conference Is Inheritance Legitimate? Ethical and Economic Aspects of Wealth Transfers at the University of Antwerp (UFSIA). The conference brought together economists, philosophers and other social scientists to discuss the issues of bequest and inheritance. The conference programme featured five invited contributions; the revised versions of these five papers consitute the core of this book (Chapters 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7). Also included in this book are the written versions of the comments presented by the two discussants (Chapters 5 and 8). We also gave the opportunity to the authors who defended two radically different opinions on bequest and inheritance to comment upon one another's position (Chapters 9 and 10). Chapter 1 serves as an introduction; it situates the debate on inheritance in a broader ethical and economic framework, and summarizes the main points of the book. The conference was organized as part of a research project funded by the Flemish Fonds voor Wetenschap'pelijk Onderzoek (project number G. 0032. 95). Within UFSIA the conference was hosted by the 'Vakgroep Arbeidseconomie' of the Studiecentrum voor Economisch en Sociaal Onderzoek (SESO) and the Centrum voor Ethiek. The secretarial staff of SESO, in particular Annernarie Bunneghem and Linda Teunkens, did an excellent job in organizing the conference. Patricia De Bruyn and Tom Schatteman were extremely helpful in preparing the manuscript for the publisher. Antwerp, January 1997. Guido Erreygers and Toon Vandevelde, Editors CONTENTS Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .