‘The only man to have all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe’ (anon)

Invited Commentary Invited Commentary: Rescuing Robinson Crusoe

Estimating the independent effect of ‘‘place’’ on health outcomes has proven quite difficult. In this issue of the Journal, Auchincloss and Diez Roux contribute a lucid introduction to agent-based simulation models and argue that they may be a fruitful alternative to current approaches to the problem. Insofar as conceptual understanding must precede empirical investigation, this author agrees. ...

How to Shake the Invisible Hand (When Robinson Meets Friday)

We propose to de…ne the invisible hand by (i) modelling the mechanism itself (not to just assume its existence) and (ii) making explicit the limit conditions for its working. For that purpose, we simply assimilate the working of the invisible hand mechanism to the existence of a social preference such that individual and social optimalities are consistent. In introducing the possibility of inte...

Leonhard Euler His Life, The Man, and His Work

On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of Euler’s birth (on April 15), an attempt is made to bring Euler’s genius to the attention of a broad segment of the educated public. The three stations of his life—Basel, St. Petersburg, and Berlin—are sketched and the principal works identified in more or less chronological order. To convey a flavor of his work and its impact on modern science, a sele...

Herman Boerhaave, the Man and his Work

Professor Lindeboom has assembled in this biography of the leading European physician of his age, twenty years or more deep study of Boerhaave and his works. It is a magnum opus which must for the foreseeable future remain the standard biography of a rare polymath, and it appeared happily in time for the tercentenary celebrations of Boerhaave's birth in 1688. Its publication ifils a longstandin...

Alfred Adler: the Man and His Work