Utility and Probability

Each volume in this series includes a collection of authoritative essays from the New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics, selected by the Editors to illustrate the range and diversity of economic thought on a particular topic.

For over two hundred years, economists, mathematicians and philosophers have been active in formulating theories of rational behavior by which is meant simply the well-ordered pursuit of well-defined goals by an individual or a society. These theories have been organized around the concepts of preference, probabilities and opportunities, all of which are dealt with at length in these essays on Utility and Probability.