A Historical Review of the Interpersonal Comparison of Utility

Abstract

The writer examines ideas on the interpersonal comparison of utility (ICU) conceived by economists ranging over the period from the mid-19th c. through 1940. These ideas may be classified into three types: (1) one which shows more or less negative attitude to the possibility of ICU as a basis for economic policy, (2) one which appreciates ICU as the foundation of economic policy, (3) one which, sharing the appreciation with type (2), restricts the mode and scope of its application. And the choice of a particular type out of these alternatives involves what problems to set up as a subject matter and what kind of epistemological criteria to adopt. It may be characterised as a sort of paradigm choice.