----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- Whewell, in his 1829 and 1831 papers gave mathematical formulae for the elasticity of demand, Gregory King gave an estimate in 1696 regarding wheat prices, and Lauderdale also wrote about elasticity in 1804. Cournot also wrote about it in 1838, as did Dupuit and de Quincy in 1844. It was named by R.S. Moffatt in 1878 in his book Economy of Consumption . All the above comes from D.H. Macgregor's seminal essay "Marshall and his Book", Economica, Nov. 1942, pp. 314-315. Warren Young ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]