================= HES POSTING ================= Well, Ross Emmett tells me offlist of a use by Frank Knight in 1924, which might explain where Samuelson got it as he attended the U. of Chicago as an undergraduate and studied with Knight. [NOTE: see separate message from Emmett regarding this quote.--RBE] However, I have just looked at the Clapham-Pigou exchange on "empty economic boxes" and the term does not appear there. Nor does it appear in Pigou's _Economics of Welfare_ as I originally indicated. Nor have I seen it in Marshall, although if somebody can find it there, more power to them. Of course the concept was around since at least Adam Smith in its positive sense, if not its negative sense. ============ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ============ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]