Abstract
Introduction. I. Topics in the History of Consumers' Surplus. II. Some Recent British Contributions to the Theory of Consumers' Surplus. III. An American Controversy. IV. Hotelling's Formulation of Consumers' Surplus. V. Comparisons of Concepts of Consumers' Surplus. Probably no single concept in the annals of economic theory has aroused so many emphatic expressions of opinion as has consumers' surplus; indeed even today the biting winds of scholarly sarcasm howl around this venerable stormcenter. Yet there are indications that the storms are abating; perhaps a new epoch is approaching during which even the most placid of academic ruminants may browse serenely through the once-forbidding territory of consumers' surplus. If the recession of the storms of controversy reveals a peneplain of understanding, it behooves economists to survey this territory as a possible site for future activities. The object of this paper is to complete a part of this survey, but before undertaking this task, I should like to recount briefly a part of the history of the concept of consumers' surplus.
Published Version
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