PAPM 1000 Chapter 20: CHAPTER 20 – WELFARE ECONOMICS

• School: Carleton University
• Department: Public Affairs and Policy Management
• Course: PAPM 1000
• Professor: Marc Andre Gagnon

Document Summary

Chapter 20 welfare economics: the branch of economic analysis concerned with discovering principles for maximizing social well-being. It is not a distinct and unified system of ideas. Evaluation: some economists argue that it fails to address the important issue of distributive justice, or the fair distribution of income in society. Income redistribution: basing himself on the principle that the marginal utility of money diminishes as more is acquired, pigou asserted that greater equality of incomes under certain conditions could increase economic welfare. Interpersonal comparisons of satisfaction can properly be made when dealing with people of the same background raised in the same environment. Economic theory of socialism: lange set forth a model of market socialism. The public-choice perspective: only individuals know what gives them satisfaction or causes them dissatisfaction; no outside person or group of persons can determine this for them.