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SPECIAL INVITED SYMPOSIUM ON THE FOUNDATIONS OF NEOCLASSICAL ECONOMICS Jevons and Menger Re‐homogenized?: Jaffé After 20 Years
Author(s) -
Peart Sandra J.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
american journal of economics and sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1536-7150
pISSN - 0002-9246
DOI - 10.1111/j.1536-7150.1998.tb03212.x
Subject(s) - argument (complex analysis) , decision maker , positive economics , key (lock) , economics , process (computing) , epistemology , mathematical economics , decision making , philosophy , neoclassical economics , management science , computer science , chemistry , operations management , biochemistry , computer security , purchasing , operating system
A bstract . Following Jaffé's 1976 argument, the effort to de‐homogenize Jevons, Walras, and Menger may have obscured some key similarities between Jevons and Menger. The article argues that Jevons's view of human behavior is more complex than has been allowed, and has much in common with Menger's predisposition for process, uncertainty, mistakes, and the significance of time in decision making. Some of the key features of the Mengerian economic being, features that have often been used to portray him as the “odd man out” among the triumvirate, also characterize Jevons's decision makers. For both Menger and Jevons, the decision maker is plagued by error, indecision, and information gaps.