IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-01771855.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Indifference Curves and the Ordinalist Revolution

Author

Listed:
  • Jean-Sébastien Lenfant

    (CLERSÉ - Centre Lillois d’Études et de Recherches Sociologiques et Économiques - UMR 8019 - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

The concept of the indifference curve was the touchstone of the escape from cardinalism and the psychological foundations of demand and choice. Yet, once Hendrik S. Houthakker (1950) and Paul Samuelson (1950) recognized that the whole theory of the consumer could be derived from the strong axiom of revealed preferences (without supposing the existence of indifference curves from the outset), indifference curves survived mainly, if not exclusively, because they made it easy to teach and learn certain ideas and principles involving choices between certain prospects (intertemporal choice, the leisure-consumption trade-off). For such a role it is endowed with convenient mathematical properties allowing for the use of duality theorems.

Suggested Citation

  • Jean-Sébastien Lenfant, 2012. "Indifference Curves and the Ordinalist Revolution," Post-Print hal-01771855, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01771855
    DOI: 10.1215/00182702-1504077
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-01771855
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-01771855/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1215/00182702-1504077?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stephen W. Rousseas & Albert G. Hart, 1951. "Experimental Verification of a Composite Indifference Map," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59, pages 288-288.
    2. Nicola Giocoli, 2003. "Modeling Rational Agents," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2585, Summer.
    3. D. Wade Hands, 2006. "Integrability, Rationalizability, and Path-Dependency in the History of Demand Theory," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 38(5), pages 153-185, Supplemen.
    4. O. Lange, 1934. "Notes on the Determinateness of the Utility Function: III," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 2(1), pages 75-77.
    5. Ivan Moscati, 2007. "Early Experiments in Consumer Demand Theory: 1930-1970," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 39(3), pages 359-401, Fall.
    6. Gerhard Tintner, 1942. "A Contribution to the Non-Static Theory of Choice," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 56(2), pages 274-306.
    7. N. Georgescu-Roegen, 1936. "The Pure Theory of Consumers Behavior," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 50(4), pages 545-593.
    8. Frank H. Knight, 1944. "Realism and Relevance in the Theory of Demand," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 52, pages 289-289.
    9. Shira B. Lewin, 1996. "Economics and Psychology: Lessons for Our Own Day from the Early Twentieth Century," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 34(3), pages 1293-1323, September.
    10. Elizabeth Waterman Gilboy, 1932. "Demand Curves by Personal Estimate," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 46(2), pages 376-384.
    11. Luigino Bruni & Francesco Guala, 2001. "Vilfredo Pareto and the Epistemological Foundations of Choice Theory," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 33(1), pages 21-49, Spring.
    12. John S. Chipman & Jean-Sébastien Lenfant, 2002. "Slutsky's 1915 Article: How It Came to Be Found and Interpreted," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 34(3), pages 553-597, Fall.
    13. Harold Hotelling, 1932. "Edgeworth's Taxation Paradox and the Nature of Demand and Supply Functions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 40, pages 577-577.
    14. O. Lange, 1934. "The Determinateness of the Utility Function," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 1(3), pages 218-225.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ivan Moscati, 2012. "How cardinal utility entered economic analysis during the Ordinal RevolutionLength: 31 pages," Economics and Quantitative Methods qf1205, Department of Economics, University of Insubria.
    2. Quentin Couix, 2018. "From Methodology to Practice (and Back): Georgescu-Roegen's Philosophy of Economics and the Flow-Fund Model," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 18021, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    3. Albers, Scott, 2013. "Okun’s Law as a Pi-to-1 ratio: A harmonic / trigonometric theory as to why Okun’s Law works," MPRA Paper 46633, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Andreas Ortman, 2013. "Episodes from the Early History of Experimentation in Economics," Discussion Papers 2013-34, School of Economics, The University of New South Wales.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ivan Moscati, 2012. "How cardinal utility entered economic analysis during the Ordinal RevolutionLength: 31 pages," Economics and Quantitative Methods qf1205, Department of Economics, University of Insubria.
    2. D. Wade Hands, 2012. "The Rise and Fall of Walrasian Microeconomics: The Keynesian Effect," Chapters, in: Microfoundations Reconsidered, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Jean Baccelli & Philippe Mongin, 2016. "Choice-based cardinal utility: a tribute to Patrick Suppes," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(3), pages 268-288, July.
    4. Luca Timponelli, 2021. "From Pareto to Bridgman: The Operational Turn of Samuelson, Sraffa and Leontief," Annals of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi. An Interdisciplinary Journal of Economics, History and Political Science, Fondazione Luigi Einaudi, Torino (Italy), vol. 55(1), pages 303-328, June.
    5. Jean-Sébastien Lenfant, 2006. "Complementarity and Demand Theory: From the 1920s to the 1940s," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 38(5), pages 48-85, Supplemen.
    6. Mauro Boianovsky, 2005. "DENNIS ROBERTSON ON UTILITY AND WELFARE IN THE 1950s," Anais do XXXIII Encontro Nacional de Economia [Proceedings of the 33rd Brazilian Economics Meeting] 010, ANPEC - Associação Nacional dos Centros de Pós-Graduação em Economia [Brazilian Association of Graduate Programs in Economics].
    7. Gerard Debreu, 1957. "Stochastic Choice and Cardinal Utility," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 39, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    8. Quentin Couix, 2018. "From Methodology to Practice (and Back): Georgescu-Roegen's Philosophy of Economics and the Flow-Fund Model," Post-Print halshs-01854031, HAL.
    9. Edwards, José, 2017. "Journal of the History of Economic Thought preprints - Harry Helson’s Adaptation-Level Theory, Happiness Treadmills, and Behavioral Economics," SocArXiv 6cvbh, Center for Open Science.
    10. John Chipman, 2006. "Pareto and contemporary economic theory," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 53(4), pages 451-475, December.
    11. Jean-Sébastien Lenfant, 2018. "Probabilising the consumer: Georgescu-Roegen, Marschak and Quandt on the modelling of the consumer in the 1950s," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1), pages 36-72, January.
    12. Nicolas Vallois & Dorian Jullien, 2017. "Estimating Rationality in Economics: A History of Statistical Methods in Experimental Economics," Working Papers halshs-01651070, HAL.
    13. M. Ali Khan & Edward E. Schlee, 2016. "On Lionel McKenzie's 1957 intrusion into 20th‐century demand theory," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 49(2), pages 589-636, May.
    14. Pham, Michel Tuan & Faraji-Rad, Ali & Toubia, Olivier & Lee, Leonard, 2015. "Affect as an ordinal system of utility assessment," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 81-94.
    15. André Lapidus, 2019. "David Hume and Rationality in Decision-Making: A Case Study on the Economic Reading of a Philosopher," Post-Print hal-01831901, HAL.
    16. D. Wade Hands, 2010. "Henry Schultz," Chapters, in: Ross B. Emmett (ed.), The Elgar Companion to the Chicago School of Economics, chapter 15, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    17. Drakopoulos, Stavros A. & Katselidis, Ioannis, 2017. "The Relationship between Psychology and Economics: Insights from the History of Economic Thought," MPRA Paper 77485, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Nicolas Vallois & Dorian Jullien, 2017. "Estimating Rationality in Economics: A History of Statistical Methods in Experimental Economics," GREDEG Working Papers 2017-20, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    19. Olav Bjerkholt & Ariane Dupont, 2007. "Ragnar Frisch's Axiomatic Approach in Econometrics," Post-Print hal-01081715, HAL.
    20. Paola Tubaro, 2014. "A Tale of Two Destinies: Georgescu-Roegen on Gossen," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 46(1), pages 33-54, Spring.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01771855. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: . General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.