4 ms·
>"economists (particularly of the capitalist variety) certainly have a point of view that the economic utility function can be directly transformed into and rep
by nickff 12y ago
>"economists (particularly of the capitalist variety) certainly have a point of view that the economic utility function can be directly transformed into and represented by monetary value"
Which economists have that point of view? Some have accused Smith of this, but it is plainly untrue, as made clear in his "Theory of Moral Sentiments".[1] Austrian economists such as Mises (who few would call socialist) criticized even the cardinal utility model, and argued that only lists of ordinal utilities are useful.[2]
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_Moral_Sentiments http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_Moral_Sentiments
[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_Money_and_Credit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_Money_and_Credit
- notahacker 12y agoThe idea that an individual optimizes their trades to maximise utility relative to their initial allocation of resources - and that monetary values in the price system itself therefore reflects an aggregate of human attempts to maximise their utility through trade and production - is so orthodox in economics it doesn't need lists of supporters. von Mises is unusual in expressing the view that human utility cannot meaningfully be known and understood except through preferences expressed by [economic] action but that's merely a stronger version of the same principle that the price system is a way of linking people's preferences [purely ordinal, in von Mises' case] with a [symbolically cardinal] monetary value.