RIEB Discussion Paper Series No.2022-24

Title

Efficient Market Theorists in the Early Nineteenth Century: The Earl of Lauderdale (1759–1839) and Yamagata Bantō (1748–1821)

Abstract

Based on his concept that information is factored into prices in efficient markets, Eugene Fama made a significant contribution to financial economics by enabling empirical analysis of asset prices. It has been noted that the pioneering idea of informational efficiency can be found in the 1805 pamphlet of a British economist Lauderdale. Yamagata Bantō, a Japanese philosopher of the same period who is lesser known internationally, also discussed price theory, including similar idea, in his own words, unlike Lauderdale. Bantō could derive such a thought due to his academic background at Kaitokudō and his daily business in the Osaka-Dōjima rice-market.

Inquiries

Yasuo TAKATSUKI
Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration(RIEB)
Kobe University
Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe
657-8501 Japan
Phone: +81-78-803-7036

Taro HISAMATSU
Faculty of Commerce, Doshisha University