The Chair of Political Economy in Lausanne
In accordance with the new 1861 Constitution, the Canton of Vaud Parliament voted in 1869 to reform the Academy of Lausanne, and gave it the legal standing necessary to its development.
Eighteen chairs were established, including in political economy, located in the Law Faculty - also a common practice in French universities. The Cantonal Minister of Education and architect of the reform, the radical Louis Ruchonnet, offered the position to Marie-Esprit-Leon Walras, at that time an employee keeping the books in a Paris bank. He had met him in Lausanne in 1860, at the Congres international de l’impot (International Congress on taxation), and had since kept in touch. Unlike the majority of participants to the congress who agreed on levying a single tax on income and capital, Ruchonnet had enjoyed the clear and precise communication delivered by a very young Walras, condemning the principle of proportional taxation and advocating collective land-ownership.Owing to the Franco-Prussian war, the organization of test lessons proved impossible and the appointment of the first professor at the chair of political economy in Lausanne was made on the sole basis of his research work. Walras was unable to boast any academic title but he had a very clear scientific project, which was supported by Ruchonnet, and he was appointed as an extraordinary professor on 12 November 1870, by four votes to three. The following year, he was promoted to full professorship and on 20 October 1871 he was officially installed in the chair of political economy by Louis Ruchonnet himself. That is how the Ecole de Lausanne got started.