The dimension of the reasonable in the microeconomics of William Vickrey

William Vickrey, Nobel Laureate in 1996, made many significant contributions to economics. Paradoxically, his work can be considered both as the epitome of orthodoxy and as profoundly heterodox. This article reviews some of Vickrey’s major writings in fields as varied as the macroeconomics of full employment, the substantive normative implications of microeconomics, welfare economics, public economics, pricing under conditions of decreasing marginal costs, and urban economics. Two strains run through Vickrey’s thought: the concept of the reasonable (as distinguished from the rational); and a pervasive ethical concern for the welfare of the other