Measuring Utility

Measuring Utility
Author: Ivan Moscati
Publisher:
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2019
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0199372764

Utility is a key concept in the economics of individual decision-making. However, utility is not measurable in a straightforward way. As a result, from the very beginning there has been debates about the meaning of utility as well as how to measure it. This book is an innovative investigation of how these arguments changed over time. Measuring Utility reconstructs economists' ideas and discussions about utility measurement from 1870 to 1985, as well as their attempts to measure utility empirically. The book brings into focus the interplay between the evolution of utility analysis, economists' ideas about utility measurement, and their conception of what measurement in general means. It also explores the relationships between the history of utility measurement in economics, the history of the measurement of sensations in psychology, and the history of measurement theory in general. Finally, the book discusses some methodological problems related to utility measurement, such as the epistemological status of the utility concept and its measures. The first part covers the period 1870-1910, and discusses the issue of utility measurement in the theories of Jevons, Menger, Walras and other early utility theorists. Part II deals with the emergence of the notions of ordinal and cardinal utility during the period 1900-1945, and discusses two early attempts to give an empirical content to the notion of utility. Part III focuses on the 1945-1955 debate on utility measurement that was originated by von Neumann and Morgenstern's expected utility theory (EUT). Part IV reconstructs the experimental attempts to measure the utility of money between 1950 and 1985 within the framework provided by EUT. This historical and epistemological overview provides keen insights into current debates about rational choice theory and behavioral economics in the theory of individual decision-making and the philosophy of economics.

A Brief History of Economic Thought

A Brief History of Economic Thought
Author: Alessandro Roncaglia
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2017-09-14
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 110717533X

A clear and concise history of economic thought, developed from the author's award-winning book, The Wealth of Ideas.

The Marginal Revolutionaries

The Marginal Revolutionaries
Author: Janek Wasserman
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 367
Release: 2019-09-24
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0300228228

A group history of the Austrian School of Economics, from the coffeehouses of imperial Vienna to the modern-day Tea Party The Austrian School of Economics--a movement that has had a vast impact on economics, politics, and society, especially among the American right--is poorly understood by supporters and detractors alike. Defining themselves in opposition to the mainstream, economists such as Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, and Joseph Schumpeter built the School's international reputation with their work on business cycles and monetary theory. Their focus on individualism--and deep antipathy toward socialism--ultimately won them a devoted audience among the upper echelons of business and government. In this collective biography, Janek Wasserman brings these figures to life, showing that in order to make sense of the Austrians and their continued influence, one must understand the backdrop against which their philosophy was formed--notably, the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and a half-century of war and exile.

Study Guide for Modern Principles of Macroeconomics

Study Guide for Modern Principles of Macroeconomics
Author: Tyler Cowen
Publisher: W H Freeman & Company
Total Pages: 512
Release: 2012-02-16
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781429292863

This thoroughly updated new edition of this title draws on a wealth of captivating applications to show readers how economics shed light on business, politics, world affairs, and everyday life.

Scarcity

Scarcity
Author: Sendhil Mullainathan
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 303
Release: 2013-09-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0805092641

A surprising and intriguing examination of how scarcity—and our flawed responses to it—shapes our lives, our society, and our culture

The Deficit Myth

The Deficit Myth
Author: Stephanie Kelton
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Total Pages: 311
Release: 2020-06-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1541736206

A New York Times Bestseller The leading thinker and most visible public advocate of modern monetary theory -- the freshest and most important idea about economics in decades -- delivers a radically different, bold, new understanding for how to build a just and prosperous society. Stephanie Kelton's brilliant exploration of modern monetary theory (MMT) dramatically changes our understanding of how we can best deal with crucial issues ranging from poverty and inequality to creating jobs, expanding health care coverage, climate change, and building resilient infrastructure. Any ambitious proposal, however, inevitably runs into the buzz saw of how to find the money to pay for it, rooted in myths about deficits that are hobbling us as a country. Kelton busts through the myths that prevent us from taking action: that the federal government should budget like a household, that deficits will harm the next generation, crowd out private investment, and undermine long-term growth, and that entitlements are propelling us toward a grave fiscal crisis. MMT, as Kelton shows, shifts the terrain from narrow budgetary questions to one of broader economic and social benefits. With its important new ways of understanding money, taxes, and the critical role of deficit spending, MMT redefines how to responsibly use our resources so that we can maximize our potential as a society. MMT gives us the power to imagine a new politics and a new economy and move from a narrative of scarcity to one of opportunity.

Marginalism

Marginalism
Author: Bert Mosselmans
Publisher: Economy Key Ideas
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2018
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781911116660

The notion of marginalism is central to modern economic theory. Its emergence in the 1870s underpinned the change from classical economics to modern (micro)economics. This book explores the origins of the concept, its development, and its role in modern economics and shows why the marginalist approach is much more than a set of mathematical rules.

Austrian Economics

Austrian Economics
Author: Steven Horwitz
Publisher: Cato Institute
Total Pages: 167
Release: 2020-07-14
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1948647966

What if economics began with people? Choice is an essential feature of the human condition. Every time we embark on a given plan of action, big or small, we make a choice. Whereas many economists model people’s behavior using idealized assumptions, economists of the Austrian School don’t. The Austrian School of Economics takes people as they are and constructs economic theories by examining the logical structure of the choices they make. Austrian Economics: An Introduction book explains the Austrian School’s insights on a wide range of economic topics and introduces some of its key thinkers. It also explains the relationship between the Austrian School and mainstream economics and delves into the criticisms that Austrian School economists have mounted against communist and socialist economic thought.

Classical Economic Theory and the Modern Economy

Classical Economic Theory and the Modern Economy
Author: Steven Kates
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2020-06-26
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1786433575

Economic theory reached its zenith of analytical power and depth of understanding in the middle of the nineteenth century among John Stuart Mill and his contemporaries. This book explains what took place in the ensuing Marginal Revolution and Keynesian Revolution that left economists less able to understand how economies operate. It explores the false mythology that has obscured the arguments of classical economists, providing a pathway into the theory they developed.