EDGEWORTH, FRANCIS YSIDRO

born Feb. 8, 1845, Edgeworthstown, County Longford, Ire. died Feb. 13, 1926, Oxford, Oxfordshire, Eng. original name Ysidro Francis Edgeworth Irish economist and statistician who applied mathematics to those fields, developing new concepts. Edgeworth was educated at Trinity College in Dublin and Balliol College, Oxford, graduating in 1869. In 1877 he qualified as a barrister. He lectured at King's College, London, from 1880, becoming professor of political economy in 1888. From 1891 to 1922 he was Drummond Professor of economics at Oxford. He played an important role as editor of the Economic Journal (18911926). Edgeworth was an economist of formidable mathematical attainments with, however, a rather obscure style of writing. He originally hoped to use mathematics to illuminate ethical questions; and his first work, New and Old Methods of Ethics (1877), drew on mathematical techniques, especially the calculus of variations, which possibly deterred otherwise interested readers. His most famous work is Mathematical Psychics (1881), which presented his ideas on the generalized utility function, the indifference curve, and the contract curve, all of which have become standard devices of economic theory. Edgeworth contributed to the pure theory of international trade and to taxation and monopoly theory. He also made important contributions to the theory of index numbers and to statistical theory, in particular to probability, advocating the use of data of past experience as the basis for estimating future probabilities.