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DENNIS ROBERTSON ON UTILITY AND WELFARE IN THE 1950s

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  • Mauro Boianovsky

Abstract

The paper investigates Dennis Robertson's effort to defend the Cambridge utilitarian tradition against the so-called "new welfare economics" in the 1950s. Robertson's sustained and isolated endeavor to rescue Marshallian cardinal utility attracted the attention of economists at the time. According to Robertson, welfare economics should be based on cardinal utility, and the ordinalist revolution in the consumer and welfare theories should be rejected. It was only by sticking to the study of the economic or material aspects of welfare under the assumption of measurable utility that the economist would regain its ability to approach economic welfare as an objective of economic policy.

Suggested Citation

  • 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].
    • Handle: RePEc:anp:en2005:010
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    File URL: http://www.anpec.org.br/encontro2005/artigos/A05A010.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Charles Goodhart, 1992. "Dennis Robertson and the Real Business Cycle," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: John R. Presley (ed.), Essays on Robertsonian Economics, chapter 2, pages 8-34, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Frank H. Knight, 1944. "Realism and Relevance in the Theory of Demand," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 52(4), pages 289-289.
    3. W. E. Armstrong, 1955. "Concerning Marginal Utility," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 0(2), pages 170-176.
    4. Mandler, Michael, 2001. "Dilemmas in Economic Theory: Persisting Foundational Problems of Microeconomics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195145755.
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    6. Paul A. Samuelson, 1963. "D. H. Robertson (1890–1963)," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 77(4), pages 517-536.
    7. Cooter, Robert & Rappoport, Peter, 1984. "Were the Ordinalists Wrong about Welfare Economics?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 22(2), pages 507-530, June.
    8. Gordon Fletcher, 2000. "Understanding Dennis Robertson," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2064.
    9. J. R. Hicks, 1941. "The Rehabilitation of Consumers' Surplus," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 8(2), pages 108-116.
    10. Hicks, J. R., 1986. "A Revision of Demand Theory," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198285502.
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    12. Samuelson, Paul A, 1974. "Complementarity-An Essay on the 40th Anniversary of the Hicks-Allen Revolution in Demand Theory," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 12(4), pages 1255-1289, December.
    13. 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.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • B21 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Microeconomics
    • B31 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - Individuals

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