Walras, Leon, << VAHL rahs, LAY awn >> (1834-1910), was a French economist who became one of the first scholars to use mathematics to analyze economic problems. For example, he created mathematical descriptions of how the various parts of an economy are related to each other. In one case, he used math to explain how economic forces determine which price will satisfy both the person producing a product and the person buying it.
Walras became well known during his lifetime, but economists did not fully appreciate his work until the 1930’s. His book Elements of Pure Economics (1874-1877) is still read by many students. The book was first translated into English in 1954.
Marie-Esprit Leon Walras was born in Evreux, France. His father, Auguste Walras, was also a noted economist. The younger Walras earned bachelor’s degrees in letters and science from the University of Paris in 1851 and 1854, respectively. He worked as a journalist, a railroad official, and a bank manager before becoming a professor of political economy—that is, economics—at Switzerland’s Academy of Lausanne (now the University of Lausanne) in 1870 . He retired from the university in 1892.
