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From:
[log in to unmask] (Olivia Orozco)
Date:
Wed Apr 12 13:51:33 2006
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Most of the classical economists already knew about utilitarianism...  
So, if you want to look for the origins of a utility theory of value (or the  
transition from a labor to a utility theory of value) you should return to  
the scholastics.  
But if you want to study the transition from classical to neoclassical  
economics, I guess that what you have to do is to examine the marginal  
revolution.  
  
(These are old references but I think may be helpful: Robert M. Fischer, The  
Logic of Economic Discovery. Neoclassical Economics and the Marginal  
Revolution, Brighton: Wheatsheaf Books, 1986; or Mark Blaug, "Was There a  
Marginal Revolution?" Blaug, Mark, The History of Political Economy, 4, 2,  
Fall 1972, 269-280)  
  
However, if I understood the kind of "move" or "transition" you have in mind  
(which is a much broader and fascinating transformation that partly explains  
Blaug's concerns about the issue) my suggestion is to do a careful reading  
of Karl Polanyi's The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic  
Origins of Our Time (1957, reedited in 2001 by Stiglitz)  
(maybe you have done it already)  
  
I think it is still the best and most complete reference to understand the  
transition you referred to (with all the implications it involved, also for  
both economic activity and economic analysis)  
  
Then, I guess you could move to all the literature on the history of  
consumption  
  
All the best,  
  
Olivia Orozco  
  

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