The nature of capital and income

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 102659555X

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-82920

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Fisher, Irving http://d-nb.info/gnd/118533541

Title:: The nature of capital and income

Place of publication:: New York

Publisher:: The Macmillan Company

Year of publication:: 1923

Scope:: XXI, 427 Seiten

Digitisation:: 2019

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Introduction. Fundamental concepts

Collection:: Economics Books

NATURE OF CAPITAL AND INCOME [Crae. III § 2 The desirability, then, of any particular goods, at any particular time, to any particular individual, under any particular conditions, is the strength or intensity of his de- sire for those goods at that time and under those conditions. What is here called desirability is identical with what has usually been called in economic writings “utility.” But utility, though not to be utterly displaced, is not the hap- piest term for our purpose. To say nothing of the mere awkwardness of its only antithetical term — “disutility ”’ — as compared with “undesirability,” it has fallen heir to so many different meanings that its use here is apt to be confusing. The term “useful,” for instance, in ordinary language is employed in opposition to “ornamental.” In this sense diamonds are said to be ornamental and not useful, though in economic science they are adjudged useful. Again, “utility” usually implies intrinsic merit, whereas, when we employ it in economic science, we are obliged to apply it to any noxious thing considered by its owner desirable, for instance, opium, alcohol, or degrad- ing literature. Finally, in the last few years, the word “utility” has come into a new and technical meaning as employed in the phrase “public utilities,” which desig- nates electric lighting plants, street railway systems, gas works, and many other things which are merely collections of wealth of a peculiar kind. In order to obviate these objections, Professor Pareto has proposed an entirely new term, “ophelimity.” This has both the advantages and the disadvantages of any newly invented technical term, and has thus far shared the fate which usually befalls the attempt to coin words. The word “utility” is still employed, and it is not likely that “desirability,” “ophelimity,” or any other term will soon displace it. In the present book we shall use both “utility” and “desirability,” but preferably the latter.

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