 On Lionel McKenzie's 1957 intrusion into 20th-century demand theoryM. Khan and Edward Schlee Canadian Journal of Economics, 2016, vol. 49, issue 2, 589-636 Abstract: In this essay, we read McKenzie's 17 paragraphs of 1957 on Demand Theory Without a Utility Index as an opening to the narrative of 20th-century demand theory and as a lever for the understanding of what has now reached culmination as the neoclassical theory of demand. In tracking the influence of these paragraphs on both theoretical and applied work, we also use them as a foothold for reflection on the process of theorizing to argue for the view that one cannot neglect the (changing) problematic that the theory is adduced to address, that the historical narrative behind a particular theorem is indispensable in understanding the theorem itself. This implicit theorizing of the process of theorizing then forces us to consider Stigler's distinction between textual and scientific exegesis and confront it to a second-order level of theorizing, and thereby bring out the continuity, possibly not quite seamless, between a theorem and its history. JEL-codes: B31 (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cje:issued:v:49:y:2016:i:2:p:589-636 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Canadian Journal of Economics is currently edited by Zhiqi Chen More articles in Canadian Journal of Economics from Canadian Economics Association Canadian Economics Association Prof. Werrner Antweiler, Treasurer UBC Sauder School of Business 2053 Main Mall Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z2. Contact information at EDIRC. |
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