The Privatization of Roads and Highways - Ludwig von Mises Institute

128 The Privatization of Roads and Highways
24.1 units, and that therefore the first child likes pickles exactly
twice as much as the other.
Rothbard tells us that
there is never any possibility of measuring increases or
decreases in happiness or satisfaction. Not only is it impossible
to measure or compare changes in the satisfaction of different
people; it is not possible to measure changes in the happiness of
any given person. In order for any measurement to be possible,
there must be an eternally fixed and objectively given unit with
which other units may be compared. There is no such objective
unit in the field of human evaluation. The individual must
determine subjectively for himself whether he is better or worse
off as a result of any change. His preference can only be
expressed in terms of simple choice, or rank. Thus, he can say,
“I am better off” or “I am happier” because he went to a concert
instead of playing bridge, . . . but it would be completely meaningless
for him to try to assign units to his preference and say:
“I am two and a half times happier because of this choice than
I would have been playing bridge.” Two and a half times what?
There is no possible unit of happiness that can be used for purposes
of comparison, and hence of addition or multiplication.
Thus, values cannot be measured. . . . They can only be ranked
as better or worse. 42
If, then, it is impossible to make interpersonal utility comparisons,
we cannot, as scientific economists, conclude that
42 Rothbard, Man, Economy, and State, pp. 15–16. See also John V. Krutilla,
“Welfare Aspects of Benefit Cost Analysis,” in Howard G. Schaller, ed. Public
Expenditure Decisions in the Urban Community (Baltimore, Maryland:
Johns Hopkins Press, 1963), p. 227 and Edward F. Renshaw, “The Economics
of Highway Congestion,” Southern Economic Journal (April 1962): 374.
Winch, The Economics of Highway Planning, p. 38 writes that “unless we
make some assumption about interpersonal comparisons [of utility], economics
can offer no help in problems of policy such as that of highway
planning.”