IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/osloec/2012_021.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Ragnar Frisch’s Axiomatic Approach to Econometrics

Author

Listed:
  • Bjerkholt, Olav

    (Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo)

Abstract

Ragnar Frisch’s concept of econometrics was broader in scope than the more restricted connotation it has today as a sub-discipline of economics, it may be more properly rendered as a reconstruction of economics along principles inspired and drawn from natural sciences. In this reconstruction an axiomatic approach played a key role. The general aim of Frisch’s axiomatic approach was to argue in favour of using axiomatics as a basis for theorizing in economics and the modelling of individual behaviour. His first axiomatic approach was undertaken in 1926. In 1933 Frisch presented an extended set of axioms for quantifying utility in a lecture series in Paris. Frisch returned yet another time to the same topic when he attended a research conference at Cowles Commission in 1937. He presented then a more general choice-field theory, the core of which was a system of axioms for individual behaviour, published only as a (long) abstract. After this latter attempt Frisch’s interest in explicitly axiomatization seem to have waned, although his promotion of axiomatics in economics may be traced in some other of his contributions. As a national accounting pioneer Frisch also argued for an axiomatic approach towards national accounting. The article is amended from a paper originally presented at Axiomatics in Economics: the Rise and Fall, European Conference on the History of Economics, Siena, 4-6 October, 2007.

Suggested Citation

  • Bjerkholt, Olav, 2012. "Ragnar Frisch’s Axiomatic Approach to Econometrics," Memorandum 21/2012, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:osloec:2012_021
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.sv.uio.no/econ/english/research/unpublished-works/working-papers/pdf-files/2012/memo-21-2012.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Abram Burk, 1936. "Real Income, Expenditure Proportionality, and Frisch's "New Methods of Measuring Marginal Utility"," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 4(1), pages 33-52.
    2. E. H. Phelps Brown, 1934. "Notes on the Determinateness of the Utility Function: I," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 2(1), pages 66-69.
    3. Frisch, Ragnar, 1992. "Statics and dynamics in economic theory," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 391-401, December.
    4. 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.
    5. Harro Bernardelli, 1934. "Notes on the Determinateness of the Utility Function: II," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 2(1), pages 69-75.
    6. Philip Mirowski & D. Wade Hands, 2006. "Introduction to Agreement on Demand: Consumer Theory in the Twentieth Century," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 38(5), pages 1-6, Supplemen.
    7. Paul A. Samuelson, 1937. "A Note on Measurement of Utility," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 4(2), pages 155-161.
    8. O. Lange, 1934. "The Determinateness of the Utility Function," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, 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. 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.
    2. Dagsvik, John K, 2017. "Invariance Axioms and Functional Form Restrictions in Structural Models," Memorandum 08/2017, Oslo University, Department of Economics.
    3. Dagsvik, John K., 2018. "Invariance axioms and functional form restrictions in structural models," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 85-95.

    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. Amélie Fievet, 2021. "Decision over Time as a By-Product of a Measure of Utility: A Reappraisal of Paul Samuelson's "A Note on Measurement of Utility" (1937)," Post-Print halshs-03453458, HAL.
    3. Roberto Marchionatti, 2006. "At the origin of post-war mainstream of economics: On pareto’s influence on economic theory," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 53(4), pages 538-559, December.
    4. D. Wade Hands, 2012. "The Rise and Fall of Walrasian Microeconomics: The Keynesian Effect," Chapters, in: Microfoundations Reconsidered, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Senderski, Marcin, 2014. "Ecumenical foundations? On the coexistence of Austrian and neoclassical views on utility," MPRA Paper 67024, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Ruggero Paladini, 2014. "Da Bentham alla tassazione ottimale," Public Finance Research Papers 2, Istituto di Economia e Finanza, DSGE, Sapienza University of Rome.
    7. Leonid A. Shapiro, 2013. "Anticipatory Systems, Preferences, Averages: Inflation, Uncertain Phenomena, Management," Papers 1301.4207, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2013.
    8. Jean-Sebastien Lenfant, 2012. "Indifference Curves and the Ordinalist Revolution," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 44(1), pages 113-155, Spring.
    9. Drouhin, Nicolas, 2015. "A rank-dependent utility model of uncertain lifetime," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 208-224.
    10. Mononen, Lasse, 2024. "Dynamically Consistent Intergenerational Welfare," Center for Mathematical Economics Working Papers 687, Center for Mathematical Economics, Bielefeld University.
    11. Min Gong & David Krantz & Elke Weber, 2014. "Why Chinese discount future financial and environmental gains but not losses more than Americans," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 103-124, October.
    12. Gerard Debreu, 1957. "Stochastic Choice and Cardinal Utility," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 39, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    13. Lovric, M. & Kaymak, U. & Spronk, J., 2008. "A Conceptual Model of Investor Behavior," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2008-030-F&A, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    14. Lex Borghans & Angela Lee Duckworth & James J. Heckman & Bas ter Weel, 2008. "The Economics and Psychology of Personality Traits," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(4).
    15. Federica Ceron & Vassili Vergopoulos, 2020. "Recursive objective and subjective multiple priors," Post-Print halshs-02900497, HAL.
    16. Vincent Carret, 2021. "Rupture and continuity in the original divide between micro-dynamics and macro-dynamics," Working Papers halshs-03242180, HAL.
    17. repec:voc:wpaper:tech82012 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. 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.
    19. Hougaard, Jens Leth & Moreno-Ternero, Juan D. & Østerdal, Lars Peter, 2013. "A new axiomatic approach to the evaluation of population health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 515-523.
    20. Jihyo Kim & Suhyeon Nam, 2021. "Do Household Time, Risk, and Social Preferences Affect Home Energy Retrofit Decisions in Korea?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-18, April.
    21. Growiec, Jakub, 2018. "Factor-specific technology choice," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 1-14.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ragnar Frisch; axiomatics;

    JEL classification:

    • B23 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Econometrics; Quantitative and Mathematical Studies
    • B31 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - Individuals
    • B41 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - Economic Methodology
    • D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:hhs:osloec:2012_021. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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: Mari Strønstad Øverås (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/souiono.html .

    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.