Back to the Ordinalist Revolution: Behavioral Economic Concerns in Early Modern Consumer Choice Theory

Abstract

The paper argues that theoretical work on consumer choice theory during the early 20th century addressed some of the same issues discussed in recent behavioral economics. This is not generally recognized because the discussion was tied up with the integrability question, the theoretical framework did not involve risky choice or expected utility theory, and the relevant evidence was introspective rather than experimental. The paper makes the case for the similarity and discusses why it is important