Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-22dnz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T08:28:43.938Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cardinal Versus Ordinal Utility: António Horta Osório's Contribution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2009

Maria Eugénia Mata
Maria Eugénia Mata
Affiliation:
Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Campus de Campolide, Campolide, P 1099-032, Lisbon
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The history of economic thought remembers António Horta Osório for Schumpeter's reference to him in the History of Economic Analysis, in the context of a general appraisal of available works using mathematical instruments and language. This, however, does not do him justice, as he should also be praised for his pioneering interpretation of Pareto's general equilibrium. According to Stigler (1965), the definitive substitution of the cardinal utility hypothesis for the ordinal utility perspective was achieved by Johnson (1913) and Slutsky (1915). Weber (2001) discusses how far Pareto used cardinality, elects Slutsky (1915) as a pioneer of demand theory and prefers to reserve to R. G. Allen (1932–34), L. R. Klein and H. Rubin (1947–48), Samuelson (1947–48), R. C. Geary (1950–51), and Richard Stone (1954) the role of establishing ordinal utility in studying the utility function. This paper shows that Osório (1911) considered the subject of ordinalism before Johnson and Slutsky addressed the issue, as he had rejected the possibility of measuring utility and clearly stated that general equilibrium is not affected if cardinality is replaced by the ordinal conception for utility, according to Pareto's last formulation. Upon reading his book it becomes clear that not only was he perfectly aware of Edgeworth's contribution on the utility indifference curves, but also of Pareto's attempts to preserve general equilibrium from Fisher's criticism against cardinalism. Historians of economic thought have forgotten one of the early twentieth-century neoclassical economists. In this way the History of Economics has neglected an interesting proof of the consolidation of the Paretian ideas on ordinality, an issue that was an exciting and uncharted territory at that moment.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , December 2007 , pp. 465 - 479
Copyright
Copyright © The History of Economics Society 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Allen, R. G. (1932) The Foundations of a Mathematical Theory of Exchange, Economica, 12 (36), pp. 197–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, R. G. (1934) A Comparison Between Different Definitions of Complementarity and Competitive Goods, Econometrica, 2 (2), pp. 168–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Almodôvar, António and Cardoso, José Luís (1988) A History of Portuguese Economic Thought (London: Routledge).Google Scholar
Amoroso, L. (1921) Lezioni di Economia Matematica (Bologna: Zanichelli).Google Scholar
Amzalak, Moses (1934) Léon Walras e a economia pura (Lisbon: Oficinas Gráficas do Museu Comercial).Google Scholar
Bastien, Carlos (1989) Para a História das Ideias Económicas no Portugal Contemporâneo: a Crise dos Anos 1945–1954, Doctoral thesis presented at the Technical University of Lisbon.Google Scholar
Boningseni, P. (1910) Précis d'Économie Politique (Lausanne: Rouge).Google Scholar
Brodsky, Michel (1949) Le Développement Historique de l'Economie Mathématique, L'Economie Politique Mathématique (Paris: Librairie Générale de Droit et Jurisprudence).Google Scholar
Boven, P. (1912) Les Applications Mathématiques à l'Économie Politique (Lausanne: Pache-Varidel et Bron).Google Scholar
de Pietri Tonelli, A. (1927) Traité d'Économie Rationelle (Paris: Giard).Google Scholar
Farto, Manuel (1992) António Osório e a Teoria do Equilíbrio Geral, Actas do Encontro Ibérico sobre a história do pensamento económico (Lisbon: CISEP).Google Scholar
Farto, Manuel (1996) (Ed) António Osório A Matemática na Economia Pura: A Troca, Preface by M. Jacinto Nunes, Introduction by Manuel Farto. (Lisbon: Banco de Portugal).Google Scholar
Fisher, Irving (1892) Mathematical Investigation in the Theory of Value and Prices (New Haven: CT, Yale University Press).Google Scholar
Geary, R. C. (1950–1951) A Note on a Constant Utility Index of the Cost of Living, Review of Economic Studies, 18 (1), pp. 65–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hicks, J. and Allen, R. (1934) A Reconsideration of the Theory of Value, Parts I and II, Economica, 1(1), pp. 52–76, 196–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hicks, J. (1946) Value and Capital, 2nd edition (New York: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Johnson, W. E. (1913) The Pure Theory of Utility Curves, Economic Journal, 23 (12), pp. 483–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, L. R. and Rubin, H. (1947–1948) A Constant Utility Index of the Cost of Living, Review of Economic Studies, 15 (2), pp. 84–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuene, Robert (1963) The Theory of General Equilibrium (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press).Google Scholar
Mata, Maria Eugénia (2002) António Horta Osório, Pareto's Portuguese Disciple, Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology, 20A, pp. 17–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLure, Michael (2005) A Note on Pareto's “Sunto,” Journal of History of Economic Thought, 27 (4), pp. 399–403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moscati, Ivan (2005) W. E. Johnson's 1913 Paper and the Question of his Knowledge of Pareto, Journal of History of Economic Thought, 27 (3), pp. 283–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nunes, Manuel Jacinto; Moura, Francisco Pereira (1954) Sobre a Teoria da Procura Anais do Instituto de Ciências Económicas e Financeiras (Lisbon).Google Scholar
Nunes, Manuel Jacinto (1988) Subsídios para a História do Equilíbrio Geral, Memórias da Academia das Ciências de Lisbon, XXVI and XXVII (Lisbon).Google Scholar
Osório, António Horta (1911) A Mathematica na Economia Pura (Lisbon: Centro Tipográfico Colonial). French translation: Théorie mathématique de l'Échange (Paris: M. Giard and E. Brière, 1913). Portuguese translation (Lisbon: Banco de Portugal, 1996).Google Scholar
Osório, António Horta (1928) O caso do Banco Angola e Metrópole, História do crime (Lisbon: Banco de Portugal).Google Scholar
Osório, Antonio Horta (1946) Psychologie de l'Art (Lisbon: Rádio Renascença).Google Scholar
Pareto, Vilfredo (1892–1893) Considerazioni sui Principii Fondamentali dell'Economia Politica Pura 4: pp. 389–420, pp. 485–512; 5: pp. 119–57; 6: pp. 1–37; 7: pp. 279–321.Google Scholar
Pareto, Vilfredo (1900) Sunto di Alcuni Capitoli di un Nuovo Trattato di Economia Pura, Giornali degli Economisti, 20 (2), pp. 216–35, pp. 511–49.Google Scholar
Pareto, Vilfredo (1906) Manuel d'Économie Politique (Paris: Giard et E. Briere, 1909).Google Scholar
Pareto, Vilfredo (1911) Economie mathéimatique in: Encyclopéidie des Sciences Mathématiques Pures et Appliqués, Vol. 4, book 1, Monk, Jules (Ed) (Paris: Gauthiers-Villars), pp. 591–640.Google Scholar
Patinkin, Don (1955) Money, Interest and Prices (New York: Peterson and Company).Google Scholar
Pedrosa, Alcino (1992) A Faculdade de Direito de Coimbra e o Ensino da Economia Politica em Portugal, in: Cardoso, J. L. and Almodôvar, A. (Eds) Actas do Encontro Ibérico sobre História do Pensamento Económico (Lisbon: CISEP).Google Scholar
Roll, Eric (1945) History of Economic Thought (London: Faber and Faber).Google Scholar
Samuelson, Paul (1938) The Empirical Implications of Utility Analysis, Econometrica, 6 (4), pp. 344–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Samuelson, Paul (1947–1948) Some Implications of Linearity, Review of Economic Studies, 15 (2), pp. 88–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Samuelson, Paul (1974) Complementarity: An Essay on the 40th Anniversary of the Hicks-Allen Revolution in Demand Theory, Journal ofEconomic Literature, 12 (4), pp. 1255–89.Google Scholar
Sensini, G. (1912) La teoria di “Rendita” (Rome: Loescher).Google Scholar
Schumpeter, Joseph (1954) History of Economic Analysis (London-Boston-Sydney: George Allen and Unwin).Google Scholar
Slutsky, Eugen (1915) Sulla Teoria del Bilancio del Consumatore, Giornali degli Economisti, Séries 3 (LI), pp. 1–26.Google Scholar
Stigler, George J. (1965) The Development of Utility Theory, reprinted in Essays in the History of Economics (Chicago and London, University of Chicago Press), pp. 66–155.Google Scholar
Stone, Richard (1954) Linear Expenditure Systems and Demand Analysis: An Application to the Pattern of British Demand, Economic Journal, 64 (255), pp. 511–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weber, Christian (2001) Pareto and the 53 Percent Ordinal Theory of Utility, History of Political Economy, 33 (3), pp. 541–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zumalacarregui, Jose Maria (1951) Vilfredo Pareto 1848–1923, Instituto Superior Sancho Moncada, no 8, serie A, Madrid.Google Scholar