The demand curve is one of the most important theoretical concepts in modern economic analysis. The standard textbook interpretation is that demand curves are the sum of the demands of individual consumers, which are in turn based on the maximization of a well-behaved utility function subject to a linear budget constraint. In Agreement on Demand: Studies in the History of Demand Theory 1930-1950, the PI investigates the various forces that contributed to the stabilization of demand theory around this now standard interpretation. Three broad themes emerge from the history of demand theory during this period. First, a wide range of different interpretations of "demand" were available within the economics literature of the 1930s. While many of these approaches contained elements of what is now the standard view, there was wide disagreement among the various contributors, even those who accepted that market demand was the summation of the individual demand curves generated by maximizing agents. Second, while stabilization did occur during this period, the movement was from the many to the few, rather than the many to the one. There were three broadly identifiable "schools" that coalesced into the now standard view, and while they obviously have much in common, there are also substantive differences. Finally, the historical narrative involves a complex story of interests, contingency and negotiation; rather than a simpler and more epic tale of the victorious theory overcoming the various competitors in a decisive and clearly progressive way. Specific topics examined in the historical investigation include the question of integrability, the character of the ordinal revolution, and the problems raised by the heterogeneity of economic agents. Intellectual Merit: Demand theory is a key feature of modern economic analysis and is involved in every (at least micro) economic policy application. Applied microeconomic theory is based on cost-benefit analysis, which in turn relies on demand curves derived from individual utility maximization. Understanding how demand theory came to be stabilized in its current form, is essential to understanding the development of microeconomics as a tool for social and economic policy. Broader Impacts: Outcomes of the research include a series of papers on these topics in the history of demand theory that will be submitted to professional journals and presented at conferences in both science studies and the history and philosophy of economics; pedagogical integration into a variety of undergraduate courses; and substantive steps toward a larger, co-authored, project on the history of demand theory.
