Economic Welfare

Economic Welfare presents an important collection of leading writings in the fields of policy evaluation. The volume focuses on the conceptual issues behind welfare economics, drawing upon contributions from economics, moral philosophy and social philosophy. The selected readings are designed to present the case both for and against extant approaches to economic welfare. Modern welfare economics comprises three contrasting approaches. Pure Paretianism focuses on cases where everyone is made better off or worse off. This approach commands broad (although not universal) assent but does not apply to most real world choices. Cost-benefit analysis does most of the practical work for economic policy evaluation, but does not offer fully sound foundations. Newer approaches treat economic welfare as either cardinal or measurable in nature, often dropping the traditional strictures against interpersonal utility comparisons. This collection brings together these three approaches, examines their strengths and weaknesses and asks whether they share a common future. Economic Welfare will provide an indispensable reference source for students, academics and practitioners.