50

POLITICAL  ECONOMY

buying  other  things  with  the  twelve  pence,
namely  120  units.  The  clear  loss  is  90  units.
Most  psychologists  (who  are  scientists
devoted  to  the  study  of  mental  phenomena)
would  maintain  that  you  cannot  add  the
consumer's  surplus  of  one  person  to  the  consumer’s ­
  surplus  of  another  person,  because  no
relations  subsist  between  the  utilities  enjoyed
by  different  persons.  There  is  no  common
denominator  to  connect  my  preference  for
golf,  when  the  alternative  is  cricket,  with  the
preference  of  somebody  else  for  pictures  as
compared  with  statuary.  Utility  in  economics,
it  is  argued,  should  be  regarded  simply
as  an  objective  representation  of  the  fact  of
choice  and  not  as  implying  that  a  choice  of
mine  can  be  brought  into  preferential  relationship ­
  with  a  choice  expressed  by  anybody  else.
We  must  not  assume  that  choice  is  measurable
in  units  of  utility  that  are  the  same  for  all.
This  consideration  affords  sure  foothold  for
the  opinion  commonly  held  that  price,  while  it
measures  the  marginal  utilities  of  things  to  one
individual,  does  not  measure  marginal  utilities
as  between  different  individuals.  But,  in
support  of  this  opinion,  considerations  can
also  be  adduced  from  the  utilitarian  point
of  view  which,  given  that  point  of  view,
are  unassailable.  Even  were  there  such