Knowledge that Transforms

C ONSUMER S surplus analysis originated with Jules Dupuit and Alfred Marshall in the last century, and ceased long ago being a novelty, but it is fair to say that it is still viewed widely with a certain skepticism. Recently Arnold Harberger has attempted to provide the basis for a concensus on consumer's surplus in the form of several basic postulates that are held to be impelling [5, 1971]. Perhaps he is right in assuming that it is through such a reduction to axiomatic fundamentals that persisting doubts can be resolved one way or the other, but to obtain such a result, I believe it is also necessary for those concerned with consumer's surplus (and who in economics can afford not to be?) to face more squarely than they often seem to have done issues posed long ago by this much quoted passage in Paul Samuelson's Foundations: