Note 1132 — Chapter I · : THE HEDONISTS

M. Paul Leroy-Beaulieu is particularly severe upon the Mathematical method. “It is a pure delusion and a hollow mockery. It has no scientific foundation and is of no practical use. It is as much a gamble as the scramble for prizes at the table at Monte Carlo.… The so-called curve of utility or demand is of no earthly use, for if the price of wine goes up the consumption of beer or cider will increase, that is all.” (Traité d’Économie politique, vol. i, p. 85; vol. iii, p. 62.)

This last criticism is somewhat unexpected, for we have already seen that the Hedonists are very far indeed from ignoring the law of substitution. If they did not actually discover it they immensely amplified it. And it is very probable that if there had been a contradiction between their doctrines and this law it would not have escaped them. Moreover, we note that beer and cider have their demand curves: cannot wine have one as well? Having to pass from one to the other does undoubtedly complicate matters, and the Mathematical economist frequently finds himself obliged to juggle not with one but with two or three balls. But this is just the kind of difficulty which is amenable to mathematical treatment—nay, even, perhaps, demands it. The connection between the values of complementary or supplementary goods is one of the problems that has been most thoroughly investigated by the Hedonists. See Pantaleoni, Economia pura.

A criticism of Mathematical economics may be found in an article by M. Simiand entitled La Méthode positive en Science économique (Revue de Métaphysique et de Morale, November 1908), and a good reply in La Méthode mathématique en Économie politique, by M. Bouvier.