This paper examines how some of the main exponents of the Austrian school of economics addressed the issues related to the measurability of utility. The first part is devoted to the period before World War I. During this period, Menger and Wieser treated de facto utilities as if they were...

This paper analyses the foundation of utilitarian ethics and theory of probability in the works of Francis Y. Edgeworth. We argue that he pursued an unitary philosophical project, the search for a common epistemological foundation for the social sciences. The common root of the disciplines is...

Probability theory has a central role in Edgeworth's thought; this paper examines the philosophical foundation of the theory. Starting from a frequentist position, Edgeworth introduced some innovations on the definition of primitive probabilities. He distinguished between primitive probabilities...

The paper argues that the canonical dichotomy between cardinal utility and ordinal utility is inadequate to tell the history of utility theory, and that a third form of utility consistent with the so-called classical understanding of measurement should be added to the traditional picture....

Critical reflection concerning the tension existing between developing the body of economic knowledge in the image of mathematics led to discovering a double epistemological rupture in developing economic theory. The first, in the mid nineteenth century, recognised mathematics as being the...

For most economists at Chicago, Marshall was simply an input, the supplier of an approach to economic analysis. For Ronald Coase, however, Marshall was much more than this — a subject of fascination and, at times, almost a reverence and obsession. Trained in the late 1920s and early 1930s at...

The aim of my paper is to show that a consistent economic analysis brought to its logical conclusions should destroy any theory of property rights, and as such it is inconsistent with its own premises, and especially with the ideological presuppositions of quite all of its followers. The...

This article analyses the nexus between exports, established indicators of governance, and economic growth in Fiji. It finds that exports and governance co-operate to promote economic growth. The interplay between these variables is also meaningful. The findings imply that Fiji needs to improve...

The paper illustrates the methodological and analytical issues that characterized, as well as the personal and institutional aspects that informed the discussions leading to the definition of the current notion of cardinal utility as utility unique up to positive linear transformations. As...

This article examines the evidence on the effect of stronger IP laws introduced during the process of international IP law harmonization initiated by the TRIPS agreement, on the economic development of developing countries. It has been argued by proponents of harmonization that stronger IP laws...