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Some Fundamental Issues in Social Welfare

In: Issues in Contemporary Microeconomics and Welfare

Author

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  • Yew-Kwang Ng

Abstract

As noted by Amartya Sen (1979, p. 537), Wassily Leontief has succinctly summarized the normative properties ‘on which something like a general consensus of opinion seems to exist’ in the formal discussion of public economic policies: In the discussion of public economic policies — in contrast to the analysis of individual choice — the normative character of the problem has been clearly and generally recognized. There the mathematical approach has cystallized the analysis around the axiomatic formulation of the (desirable or conventional) properties of the ‘social welfare function’. Social utility is usually postulated as a function of the ordinally described personal utility levels attained by each of the individual members for the society in question. The only other property on which something like a general consensus of opinion seems to exist is that ‘the social welfare is increased whenever at least one of the individual utilities on which it depends is raised while none is reduced’ (Leontief, 1966, p. 27).

Suggested Citation

  • Yew-Kwang Ng, 1985. "Some Fundamental Issues in Social Welfare," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: George R. Feiwel (ed.), Issues in Contemporary Microeconomics and Welfare, chapter 14, pages 435-469, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-349-06876-0_14
    DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-06876-0_14
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. W. Max Corden & Peter Forsyth & Christis G. Tombazos, 2008. "Distinguished Fellow of the Economic Society of Australia, 2007: Yew‐Kwang Ng," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 84(265), pages 267-272, June.
    2. Yew-Kwang Ng, 1996. "Happiness surveys: Some comparability issues and an exploratory survey based on just perceivable increments," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 1-27, May.
    3. J.A. den Hertog, 2010. "Review of economic theories of regulation," Working Papers 10-18, Utrecht School of Economics.

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