Dear Robert Murphy, 
dear colleagues and members of the list,

I can inform you that the same question has been of interest lately to a group of French scholars. 
Under the coordination of Pierre Cretois and Raphael Chappe, a volume entitled "L'homme présupposé (Man As It Is Assumed)" is forthcoming next Spring at the University of Aix-Marseilles Press.

Reference is made by many contributors to the topic of Robinson Crusoe, including some about Marx starting from the quote recalled by Neri Salvadori in this list.
Actually, the whole idea of the book started with a conference held in Aix about "robinsonades".
I am a contributor with a chapter on "Robinsonades" (Economics a la Robinson Crusoe) with regard to the changes to point between Classical Thought and the founder of Austrian economics, Carl Menger.

The Editors do not seem to think of an English edition, so this will be useful to the readers of the French language.

Best,

Gilles Campagnolo
Full research professor, French National Center for Scientific research
Senior Member, Aix-Marseilles School of Economics

> ----------------------------------------
> From: Robert Murphy <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Thu Sep 27 22:59:27 CEST 2012
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: [SHOE] Robinson Crusoe Economics
> 
> 
> Dear List,
> 
> I am interested in tracking down the history of when economists began
> using Robinson Crusoe as a pedagogical device in their writings. I
> know that Eugen von Bohm-Bawerk uses him to make points about capital
> theory, but I imagine it goes back earlier than Bohm-Bawerk. Are there
> any articles detailing this? Failing that, do the people here have
> ideas for older examples of economists using Robinson Crusoe by name?
> 
> Thanks,
> Bob Murphy