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“The Labor-Less Labor Supply Model” in the Era Before Philip Wicksteed

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  • Spencer, David A.

Abstract

In a recent article in this journal, Laurent Derobert (2001) examined the origins of the canonical model of labor supply. According to this model, workers will exchange “leisure” for work at a rate determined by the hourly wage. In this case, labor supply will be a simple function of the utility of leisure and the utility of income. Paradoxically, this permits the understanding of labor supply to proceed without consideration of labor itself. Derobert identifies Philip H. Wicksteed (1910) as the originator of this approach. Apparently he was the first economist to model labor supply in terms of a leisure-income trade-off. Thus it is claimed that Wicksteed bequeathed to the economics profession the paradox of the “labor-less labor supply model.”

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  • Spencer, David A., 2003. "“The Labor-Less Labor Supply Model” in the Era Before Philip Wicksteed," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 25(4), pages 505-513, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jhisec:v:25:y:2003:i:04:p:505-513_00
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