What economist coined the phrase ophelimity?
In 1918, Irving Fisher wrote an AER article trying to replace the term utility with something he found more suitable: Is “Utility” the Most Suitable Term for the Concept It is Used to Denote?, by Irving Fisher, American Economic Review, volume 8 (1918), pp. 335-7: In all sciences, and particularly in one like economics, which appeals to the general public and which uses concepts and terms already at least partially familiar, it is a matter of some practical importance to select a suitable terminology. The concept called “final degree of utility” by Jevon’s, “effective utility”, “specific utility”, and “marginal efficiency” by J. B. Clark, “marginal utility” and “marginal desirability” by Marshall, Gide and others, “Grenznutzen” by the Austrians, “Werth der letzten Atome” by Gossen, “rareté” by Walras, and “ophélimité” by Pareto, seem still in need of really satisfactory terms by which to express it. Marshall improved greatly upon Jevons’ phrase when he substituted the term “marginal” f
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2008/03/ophelimity-vs-w.html Mar 23, 2008 Ophelimity vs. Wantability In 1918, Irving Fisher wrote an AER article trying to replace the term utility with something he found more suitable: . . . The concept called “final degree of utility” by Jevon’s, “effective utility”, “specific utility”, and “marginal efficiency” by J. B. Clark, “marginal utility” and “marginal desirability” by Marshall, Gide and others, “Grenznutzen” by the Austrians, “Werth der letzten Atome” by Gossen, “rareté” by Walras, and “ophélimité” by Pareto, seem still in need of really satisfactory terms by which to express it. . . . Genuine utility for social service must, as Pareto says, be more and more studied by economists as they fulfill their task of working out plans for economic and social betterments. He therefore suggested that we should not abandon the term
Vilfredo Pareto thought the term ophelimity should be used in place of utility in price analysis to describe value-making quality. Sources: http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2008/03/ophelimity-vs-w.
