The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics

Living Edition
| Editors: Palgrave Macmillan

Utility

  • R. D. Collison Black
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_1320-2
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Abstract

Utility is a term which has a long history in connection with the attempts of philosophers and political economists to explain the phenomenon of value. It has most frequently been given the connotation of ‘desiredness’, or the capacity of a good or service to satisfy a want, of whatever kind. Its use with that meaning can be traced back at least to Gershom Carmichael’s 1724 edition of Pufendorf’s De Officio Hominis et Civis Iuxta Legam Naturalem, and arguably came down to him through the medieval schoolmen from Aristotle’s Politics.

Keywords

Cardinal utility Classical theory of value Consumer surplus Cost of production Demand Diminishing marginal utility Dupuit, A.-J.-E.J. Edgeworth, F. Y. Exchange Exchange value Gossen, H. H. Hicks, J. R. Interpersonal utility comparisons Jevons, W. S. Marginal revolution Marginal utility Market price Marshall, A. Menger, C. Natural price Ordinal utility Pareto, V. Pigou, A. C. Price theory Revealed preference theory Use value Utility Value Walras, L. 

JEL Classifications

A1 
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Copyright information

© The Author(s) 2008

Authors and Affiliations

  • R. D. Collison Black
    • 1
  1. 1.