Andreas Voigt and Ordinal Utility , 1886 - 1934

In 1893 Andreas Heinrich Voigt published “Zahl und Mass in der Ökonomik” (“Number and Measurement in Economics,” Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft), in which he argued that utility admits only an ordinal characterization. This paper compares Voigt’s views on ordinalism with those of his contemporaries, and also discusses Voigt’s impact on later economic thought. F.Y. Edgeworth soon learned of Voigt’s contribution and cited Voigt’s ordinal-cardinal distinction several times in the Economic Journal between 1894 and 1915, bringing that distinction, both the concept and the terminology, into economics outside of Germany. Since John Hicks learned of the cardinal-ordinal terminology from Edgeworth, and since Pareto was inconsistent in his treatment of utility and apparently never used the word “ordinal,” even when discussing ordinal utility functions, it appears that Voigt’s 1893 paper – via Edgeworth as early as 1894 – is the original source of the ordinal utility concept as we know it today. J.E.L. classification #'s: B13, B21 * corresponding author Address correspondence to: Christian E. Weber Dept. of Economics and Finance Albers School of Business and Economics Seattle University Seattle, WA 98122 Ph.: (206) 296-5725 FAX: (206) 296-2486 e-mail: [email protected] We would like to thank Dean Peterson and participants at the 2006 History of Economics society Meetings at Grinnell College for their comments on an earlier version of this paper. Of course, any errors which may remain are entirely the responsibility of the authors.