IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/eujhet/v30y2023i5p832-859.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Welfare, state, and values: the winding road of the normative approach to inequality measurement (1912–1970)

Author

Listed:
  • Ignacio Hauser

Abstract

Embedded in the general history of income inequality measures, this paper seeks to understand the evolution of the normative approach to inequality measurement. To this end, it undertakes a joint consideration of selected works by Pigou, Dalton, Kolm, and Atkinson that have not previously been discussed in connection with each other. Noting that the normative approach to inequality measurement was neglected for almost five decades, the paper inquires into the reasons for this, proposing two explanations: first, that the normative approach was eclipsed by the pretensions to axiological neutrality supposedly proper to economic science; second, that there was a drift towards statistics in the study of personal income distribution, where the measurement of inequality became established as a central axis. Finally, the paper discusses the different factors that contributed to the rebirth of the normative approach and highlights the ways in which the new contributions manifest an awareness of previous discussions of values in economics.

Suggested Citation

  • Ignacio Hauser, 2023. "Welfare, state, and values: the winding road of the normative approach to inequality measurement (1912–1970)," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(5), pages 832-859, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:eujhet:v:30:y:2023:i:5:p:832-859
    DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2023.2248309
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09672567.2023.2248309
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/09672567.2023.2248309?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:eujhet:v:30:y:2023:i:5:p:832-859. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/REJH20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.