Gorman polar form

Gorman polar form is a functional form for indirect utility functions in economics. Imposing this form on utility allows the researcher to treat a society of utility-maximizers as if it consisted of a single 'representative' individual. Gorman showed that having the function take Gorman polar form is both necessary and sufficient for this condition to hold.

Standard consumer theory is developed for a single consumer. The consumer has a utility function, from which his demand curves can be calculated. Then, it is possible to predict the behavior of the consumer in certain conditions, price or income changes. But in reality, there are many different consumers, each with his own utility function and demand curve. How can we use consumer theory to predict the behavior of an entire society? One option is to represent an entire society as a single "mega consumer", which has an aggregate utility function and aggregate demand curve. But in what cases is it indeed possible to represent an entire society as a single consumer?

Formally: consider an economy with ${\displaystyle n}$ consumers, each of whom has a demand function that depends on his income ${\displaystyle m^{i}}$ and the price system:

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