Francis Y Edgeworth

The Theory of Distribution Francis Y Edgeworth

Francis Ysidro Edgeworth FBA was an Anglo-Irish philosopher and political economist who made significant contributions to the methods of statistics during the 1880s. From 1891 onward he was appointed the founding editor of The Economic Journal. Francis Ysidro Edgeworth was an Irish polymath, a highly influential figure in the development of neo-classical economics, and contributor to the development of statistical theory. He was the first to apply certain formal mathematical techniques to individual decision making in economics. Edgeworth developed utility theory, introducing the indifference curve and the famous "Edgeworth box," which have become standards in economic theory. He is also known for the "Edgeworth conjecture" which states that the core of an economy shrinks to the set of competitive equilibria as the number of agents in the economy gets large. The high degree of originality demonstrated in his most important book on economics, Mathematical Psychics, was matched only by the difficulty in reading it. A deep thinker, his contributions were far ahead of his time and continue to inform the fields of microeconomics and areas such as welfare economics. Thus, Edgeworth's work has advanced our understanding of economic relationships among traders, and thus contributes to the establishment of a better society for all