4 ms·

Does the $1k to go to Disney land buy the same utility as the $1k average yearly income in Bangladesh? Or the utility a 80th percentile household in the US cou

Does the $1k to go to Disney land buy the same utility as the $1k average yearly income in Bangladesh? Or the utility a 80th percentile household in the US could buy for the same amount.

lotsofpulp 5y ago
I have never heard of utility to be used as an objective measure. It is subjective, symbolizing an individual’s (perceived) value of a transaction relative to other possible transactions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility > a utility function that represents a single consumer's preference ordering over a choice set but is not comparable across consumers. This concept of utility is personal and based on choice
- solveit 5y ago
  Philosophers spend a lot of time trying to figure out a way to define an objective measure of utility that can be compared across different people. This is necessary for many formulations of utilitarianism. And probably many HN commenters are more familiar with the word in this context. That economists use the same word with a much more limited scope does tend to detract from discussions like this, I feel.
  - lotsofpulp 5y ago
    This discussion is specifically about economics, linked to an article in a prominent economics publication.
- geysersam 5y ago
  The paper talks about maximizing "welfare" what is that if not an objective measure of utility?
- geysersam 5y ago
  Of course utility is used as an objective measure. That's the basic foundation of utilitarianism, and utilitarianism is the ethical foundation of market economics.
solveit 5y ago
> even talking about utility assumes the price someone is willing to pay reflects their utility gain It does. It reflects their utility gain relative to the utility they gain by spending that money somewhere else, or just keeping the money for the future. People not made of straw do not generally believe that the price someone is willing to pay reflects somebody else's utility. Nor are they unaware of the tendency for marginal utility to decrease.

Does the $1k to go to Disney land buy the same utility as the $1k average yearly income in Bangladesh? Or the utility a 80th percentile household in the US could buy for the same amount.

lotsofpulp 5y ago

I have never heard of utility to be used as an objective measure. It is subjective, symbolizing an individual’s (perceived) value of a transaction relative to other possible transactions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility > a utility function that represents a single consumer's preference ordering over a choice set but is not comparable across consumers. This concept of utility is personal and based on choice

solveit 5y ago
Philosophers spend a lot of time trying to figure out a way to define an objective measure of utility that can be compared across different people. This is necessary for many formulations of utilitarianism. And probably many HN commenters are more familiar with the word in this context. That economists use the same word with a much more limited scope does tend to detract from discussions like this, I feel.
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  This discussion is specifically about economics, linked to an article in a prominent economics publication.
geysersam 5y ago
The paper talks about maximizing "welfare" what is that if not an objective measure of utility?
geysersam 5y ago
Of course utility is used as an objective measure. That's the basic foundation of utilitarianism, and utilitarianism is the ethical foundation of market economics.

solveit 5y ago

> even talking about utility assumes the price someone is willing to pay reflects their utility gain It does. It reflects their utility gain relative to the utility they gain by spending that money somewhere else, or just keeping the money for the future. People not made of straw do not generally believe that the price someone is willing to pay reflects somebody else's utility. Nor are they unaware of the tendency for marginal utility to decrease.