----------------- HES POSTING ----------------- Thank you Bruce for your excellent exposition. Here's another question on this. One frequently reads that Gossen "discovered" marginal utility in the 1850s and then that Walras, Jevons, and Menger independently did so again in the 1870s. Now, Streissler does a good job of making it clear that, however independent the discoveries by Walras and Jevons were, Menger was consciously drawing on this older German tradition of Rau, Hermann, and Roscher. Streissler makes no reference at all, at least in the IEA paper, to Gossen. Where does he fit in and why do many English language sources make this apparently silly claim about him? More entrenched textbook errors a la Stigler? Barkley Rosser ------------ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ------------ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]