Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics

The Modern Theory of Consumer Behavior: Ordinal or Cardinal?

The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics
Downloads

 

Volume 6, No. 1 (Spring 2003)

 

Neoclassical utility functions are an invalid means of analyzing consumer behavior for three reasons: first, and most important, because such functions, and their attendant rankings, are cardinal, not ordinal in nature; second, because, with respect to the set of bundles relevant to actual human beings, such functions are not continuous and, therefore, not differentiable; and third, because such functions do not correctly, consistently, and properly include dimensions/units.

CITE THIS ARTICLE

Barnett, William II. “The Modern Theory of Consumer Behavior: Ordinal or Cardinal?” The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics Quarterly 6, No. 1 (Spring 2003): 41-65.

 

 

All Rights Reserved ©
What is the Mises Institute?

The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard. 

Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.

Become a Member
Mises Institute