Leading South African Economist

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1957. Original green boards; x, 178 pp. Index. First Edition. Francis M. Bator’s personal copy with his name and ​“Cambridge 1958” in pen on the flyleaf, numerous pages of heavy underlining and insightful marginalia (numbering of concepts, footnote cross-references, and statements of explanation). Along with a notepad sized page of graphs and notes by Bator. Very good, with sunning to the covers (and of course, with Bator’s numerous comments). Johannes de Villiers Graaff (1928–2015) was a neoclassical South African welfare economist. Graaff is noted for his work on optimal savings rates, contributions to the creation of the social welfare function and for this book on welfare economics. The book covers foreign trade, investments and welfare with numerous graphs and equations — his work is not for the mathematically challenged. Francis M. Bator’s marginalia and ephemera help us understand his position vis a vis Graaff’s arguments.