science

Lausanne School

Lausanne School is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lausanne School rather than just read about it. In short: The Lausanne School of economics, sometimes referred to as the Mathematical School, refers to the neoclassical economics school of thought surrounding Léon Walras and Vilfredo Pareto. It is named after the University of Lausanne, at which both Walras and Pareto held professorships.

Key takeaways

Lausanne School belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lausanne School to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lausanne School from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Lausanne School of economics, sometimes referred to as the Mathematical School, refers to the neoclassical economics school of thought surrounding Léon Walras and Vilfredo Pareto. It is named after the University of Lausanne, at which both Walras and Pareto held professorships. Polish economist Leon Winiarski is also said to have been a member of the Lausanne School.

Background The term Lausanne School was coined by the mathematician Hermann Laurent in his article Petit traite d'economie politique mathematique (Small Treatise on Mathematical Political Economy). The central feature of the Lausanne School was its development of general equilibrium theory. Laurent's article presented a simplified version of this theory. Lausanne School is also associated with the Italian School and the Paretian School, which were based on the works of Pareto. Italian economic historians have adopted Luigi Einaudi's description that the age of the Lausanne School in Italy should be called "Italian school". The school is distinguished from the work of Alfred Marshall by the way it maintains the necessity of considering the interaction of all parts of the economy simultaneously so that the behavior that occurs within any part of it can be understood. Marshall, on the other hand, preferred to solve economic problems using mathematics as the instrument, with the theorist drawing out conclusions instead of coming up with solutions through the process of verbal reasoning. The Lausanne School attempted to answer the question of whether the welfare of an economy can be measured. Its theorists such as Walras proposed that it can be done through a notion of justice in exchange called "commutative justice", which required all traders to face the same price, which did not change, for a given product. This free competition is said to produce "maximum welfare", allowing for an effective evaluation of questions of welfare. Hans Mayer argued against Lausanne School, citing that its assumptions are unrealistic and that the utility of a good cannot be measured, infinitely divided, nor indefinitely substituted. Members of the Lausanne School include Basile Samsonoff, Marie Kolabinska, and Pierre Boven, who were all students of Pareto.

References

Further reading Gherity, James A. (1965). Economic Thought: a Historical Anthology (article: The Lausanne School, pg. 352-). Ransom House.

External links The Lausanne School ("Walrasians")

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lausanne School

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lausanne School claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lausanne School before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lausanne School ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lausanne School

In research: Lausanne School appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lausanne School in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lausanne School is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Schools of economic thought, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lausanne School outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lausanne School in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lausanne School means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lausanne School out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lausanne School in simple terms?

Why does Lausanne School matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lausanne School?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lausanne School.