Maxime,
Given that this was/is the standard approach for modeling labor supply decisions at the individual level, it might be worthwhile to dive down the labor econ rabbit hole. Mark Killingsworth’s big book, Labor Supply (CUP 1983) might provide some clues about the history. I have a copy, but it is in my office at the university. Perhaps I can remember this long enough to check on Monday.
Best wishes,
Steve
Steven G. Medema, PhD
George Family Research Professor of Economics
Associate Director, Center for the History of Political Economy
Research Associate, School of Law
Duke Universityhttps://sites.duke.edu/sgmedema/
From: Societies for the History of Economics <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Maxime Desmarais-Tremblay <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Saturday, April 22, 2023 at 9:11 AM
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: [SHOE] Question on the history of neoclassical economics: who first conceived of the consumption, leisure utility function?Dear Colleagues,
I am hoping you could perhaps help me retrace the origins of the common maximisation problem of u(C, L) function under the leisure-paid work constraint. Who was the first to pose the consumption-leisure bundle of goods? Who popularised the use of this model?
Was it predated by a (consumption, time worked) bundle (where work is a negative good)?
I saw that Becker (1965) refers to the “the traditional labour-leisure approach”. Marshall seems to make a big deal of the value of leisure, but I did not find an explicit conceptualisation of this idea. Jevons seems to connect utility to labour and commodities, but in the production side, not as consumption of commodities and leisure.
Any help on those questions would be greatly appreciated!
Best wishes,
Maxime
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Dr Maxime Desmarais-TremblaySenior Lecturer in Economics
Institute of Management Studies
Goldsmiths, University of London
New Cross, London SE14 6NW
UKBook Review Editor, The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought