Ordinal Preference (MES)

[Aristippus]

If we can’t determine what specifically a productive good is (e.g. if we can’t say that a tractor is a productive good), then how useful is the economic theory?

Interpreting data is the task of economic history, and not economic theory. It is therefore less precise than theory, but not impossible.

If the other person demands 2 cups of water for picking up the apple, then I will simply pick up the apple myself–regardless of how satisfying I find holding the apple to be.

Sure, in a situation in which foregoing the cups of water is a greater loss than engaging in the disutility of picking up the object, that is indeed the case. But how does this mean that disutility determines prices?