Abstract
Ophelimity is a term coined by Vilfredo Pareto (Cours, I) from the Greek ωϕελìμoς (beneficial) to denote ‘the attribute of a thing capable of satisfying a need or a desire, legitimate or not’. His reason, invoked by others as well (e.g., Fisher 1906), was that ‘utility’ usually opposes ‘perniciousness’ which economic value does not exclude: weapons, addictive drugs, and the like are commodities. But his action had a root in the interminable controversies that surrounded the economic significance of ‘utility’ ever since the naturalization of that term in political economy.
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Georgescu-Roegen, N. (2018). Ophelimity. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_1641
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_1641
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