Cournot, Augustin

(1801–77) a French economist who explored the problems of price in conditions of competition and monopoly in his book The Mathematical Principles of the Theory of Wealth (1838). Cournot concentrated attention on the exchange values of products rather than their utilities, and he used mathematics to explore the relationship between the sale price of products and their costs, developing the idea of a MONOPOLY price. Cournot is also known for his work on DUOPOLY, his analysis showing that two firms would react to one another's output changes until they eventually reached a stable output position from which neither would wish to depart.

Collins Dictionary of Economics, 4th ed. © C. Pass, B. Lowes, L. Davies 2005

References in periodicals archive ?

Cournot, Augustin. Recherches sur les Principes Mathematizues de la Theorie des Richesses, Paris, France: L.

Augustin Courtnot and neoclassical economics

Cournot, Augustin. Recherches sur les Principes Mathematiques de la Theorie des Richesses, Paris, France: Hachette, 1838 (English edition, Nathaniel Bacon, ed., Research into the Mathematical Principles of the Theory of Wealth, New York, NY: Macmillan, 1897).

Mergers, welfare, and concentration: Results from a model of Stackelberg-Cournot oligopoly