Paul Matthieu Hermann Laurent (1841–1908).
In a short work published in 1902, Petit Traité d'économie politique mathématique, mathematician Hermann Laurent—who should not be confused with Pierre Alphonse Laurent (1813–1854), known for "Laurent series"—presents the following proposal, which the author preferred to attribute to one of his friends.
"Machines should be installed in certain places that would charge electrical storage batteries when a crank was turned; after a certain number of turns, they would dispense a ten-centime coin. Enough turns of the wheel would be required to make earning those two sous arduous. A man who happened to be out of work would thus have an incentive to look for another job. As I have said, the work of turning the crank would not be wasted: it would be used to generate electricity whose value could pay for replenishing the machine with sous. Strange though this arrangement may be, it points towards a way of helping a man who wants to work but is temporarily unable to do so."
