Jeremy Bentham to the fundamental concepts employed in his model of utilitarian decision making. His work is considered to be an early precursor of modern welfare economics. Bentham stated that pleasures and pains can be ranked according to their value or "dimension" such as intensity, duration, certainty of a pleasure or a pain. He was concerned with maxima and minima of pleasures and pains; and they set a precedent for the future employment of the maximisation principle in the economics of the consumer, the firm and the search for an optimum in welfare economics. Bentham advocated "Pauper Management" which involved the creation
Edward Bentham philosopher and reformer Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832). In 1717, on the recommendation of Dr. Smalridge, then a fellow of Christ Church college, Bentham was sent away to Oxford where he sang as a chorister at Christ Church, before entering the college as a student on 28 March 1724. He studied under the supervision of John Burton, a cousin who became also a friend. He was listed as a scholar in 1726. Sources commend Bentham's erudition and even temperament. As soon as he had taken his Bachelor of Arts degree he was invited by the principal of Magdalen Hall to become vice-principal