----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- 
 
One other contribution that Allais made, although 
it was during the period that Buchanan would have seen 
him as having produced something, was the invention/ 
discovery of the overlapping generations model.  He did 
this in his 1947 book, Economie et Interet, published in 
Paris by Imprimerie National.  I don't think this book has 
ever been translated into English. 
 
Of course, it was Samuelson's independent discovery 
in 1958 of this model that set off the wave of such theorizing 
in the English language literature.   Allais' work on this is 
rarely cited.  It is my perception that Samuelson's paper on 
this is probably one of his papers that is still cited at a very 
high rate, given the wide prevalence of OLG models. 
 
BTW, I find Buchanan's wisecrack a bit odd.  I know that 
when people go up for promotion it is often asked if they have 
an ongoing research program.  But, I was unaware that this was 
a requirement for receiving a Nobel Prize.  Indeed, especially 
in the early years of the Nobel, there were quite a few elderly 
recipients whose prize winning work was some time in the 
past with their more recent activity at a much reduced level. 
 
I also understand that Allais has expressed support for the 
recent "anti-autism" protest in France.  Certainly in France there 
is an extreme tradition of "Bourbakism" that emphasizes formal 
proof over all other approaches.  Debreu is a leading product 
of that tradition that emphasizes that approach.  One can see 
it as an extension of the more general Cartesian rationalism 
tradition in France that also led to a belief in social engineering 
as expressed by Saint Simon, as well as the dirigiste tradition 
in economic policymaking. 
 
Barkley Rosser 
 
------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ 
For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]