Antoine augustin cournot biography of michael myers

The Centre takes its name from the pioneering economist, mathematician and philosopher Antoine Augustin Cournot (–).

He then became the private secretary of a field marshal who required assistance in writing his memoirs. This position left Cournot with considerable time for his own pursuits. In the course of his ten years in the field marshal's employment he took two doctoral degrees, one in mechanics and one in astronomy. In addition, he published a number of articles and even acquired a degree in law.

A historical glimpse of how economists of the 19th century debated the usefulness of mathematics to economics.

Subsequently, Cournot held positions as professor of mathematics, chief examiner for undergraduate students, and rector of Dijon Academy. Cournot was mainly a mathematician, but had some influence in economics. His theories on monopolies and duopolies are still prevalent. This book was strongly criticized and scarcely successful during Cournot's lifetime.

He attempted nonetheless to rewrite it twice. It is influential in economics today. Today many economists believe this book to be the point of departure for modern economic analysis [ citation needed ]. Cournot introduced the ideas of functions and probability into economic analysis [ according to whom? He derived the first formula for the rule of supply and demand as a function of price and was the first to draw supply and demand curves on a graph [ according to whom?

The Cournot duopoly model developed in his book also introduced the concept of a pure strategy Nash equilibrium , the reaction function and best-response dynamics. Cournot believed that economists must utilize the tools of mathematics only to establish probable limits and to express less stable facts in more absolute terms.