Measuring Social Welfare

Author : Dale Weldeau Jorgenson
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 476 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0262100630

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Welfare: Measuring social welfare by Dale Weldeau Jorgenson Pdf

This volume presents an approach to the evaluation of economic policies through the econometric modeling of aggregate consumer behavior. While the preferences of individual consumers are revealed by their market choices, these preferences can be recovered only by econometric methods, not through the index numbers used in the official statistics. The richer and more robust methodology presented in this volume provides a fruitful point of departure for future policy evaluations. The econometric approach replaces ordinal measures of individual welfare that cannot be compared among individuals with cardinal measures that can. These are combined into an indicator of social welfare that reflects principles of horizontal and vertical equity. This approach unifies the measurement of poverty, inequality, and cost and standard of living. It extends the scope of normative economics to a broader range of issues in the evaluation of economic and social policies.

Author : Matthew D. Adler
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 337 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 2019
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780190643027

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Measuring Social Welfare by Matthew D. Adler Pdf

Disputes over government policies rage in a number of areas. From taxation to climate change, from public finance to risk regulation, and from health care to infrastructure planning, advocates debate how policies affect multiple dimensions of individual well-being, how these effects balance against each other, and how trade-offs between overall well-being and inequality should be resolved. How to measure and balance well-being gains and losses is a vexed issue. Matthew D. Adler advances the debate by introducing the social welfare function (SWF) framework and demonstrating how it can be used as a powerful tool for evaluating governmental policies. The framework originates in welfare economics and in philosophical scholarship regarding individual well-being, ethics, and distributive justice. It has three core components: a well-being measure, which translates each of the possible policy outcomes into an array of interpersonally comparable well-being numbers, quantifying how well off each person in the population would be in that outcome; a rule for ranking outcomes thus described; and an uncertainty module, which orders policies understood as probability distributions over outcomes. The SWF framework is a significant improvement compared to cost-benefit analysis (CBA), which quantifies policy impacts in dollars, is thereby biased towards the rich, and is insensitive to the distribution of these monetized impacts. The SWF framework, by contrast, uses an unbiased measure of well-being and allows the policymaker to consider both efficiency (total well-being) and equity (the distribution of well-being). Because the SWF framework is a fully generic methodology for policy assessment, Adler also discusses how it can be implemented to inform government policies. He illustrates it through a detailed case study of risk regulation, contrasting the implications of results of SWF and CBA. This book provides an accessible, yet rigorous overview of the SWF approach that can inform policy-makers and students.

Author : Nanak Kakwani,Hyun Hwa Son
Publisher : Springer
Page : 355 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2016-06-30
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781137583253

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Social Welfare Functions and Development by Nanak Kakwani,Hyun Hwa Son Pdf

Nanak Kakwani and Hyun Hwa Son make use of social welfare functions to derive indicators of development relevant to specific social objectives, such as poverty- and inequality-reduction. Arguing that the measurement of development cannot be value-free, the authors assert that if indicators of development are to have policy relevance, they must be assessed on the basis of the social objectives in question. This study develops indicators that are sensitive to both the level and the distribution of individuals’ capabilities. The idea of the social welfare function, defined in income space, is extended to the concept of the social well-being function, defined in capability space. Through empirical analysis from selected developing countries, with a particular focus on Brazil, the authors shape techniques appropriate to the analysis of development in different dimensions. The focus of this evidence-based policy analysis is to evaluate alternative policies affecting the capacities of people to enjoy a better life.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 428 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : Electronic
ISBN : OCLC:882596602

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Measuring Social Welfare by Anonim Pdf

Author : Angus Deaton
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 92 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 1985
Category : Political Science
ISBN : STANFORD:36105037534307

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The Measurement of Welfare by Angus Deaton Pdf

Author : Jerome Rothenberg
Publisher : Westport, Conn : Greenwood Press
Page : 376 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 1973
Category : Political Science
ISBN : UOM:35128000115483

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The Measurement of Social Welfare by Jerome Rothenberg Pdf

Author : Marc Fleurbaey,Didier Blanchet
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2013-04-11
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780199346912

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Beyond GDP by Marc Fleurbaey,Didier Blanchet Pdf

In spite of recurrent criticism and an impressive production of alternative indicators by scholars and NGOs, GDP remains the central indicator of countries' success. This book revisits the foundations of indicators of social welfare, and critically examines the four main alternatives to GDP that have been proposed: composite indicators, subjective well-being indexes, capabilities (the underlying philosophy of the Human Development Index), and equivalent incomes. Its provocative thesis is that the problem with GDP is not that it uses a monetary metric but that it focuses on a narrow set of aspects of individual lives. It is actually possible to build an alternative, more comprehensive, monetary indicator that takes income as its first benchmark and adds or subtracts corrections that represent the benefit or cost of non-market aspects of individual lives. Such a measure can respect the values and preferences of the people and give as much weight as they do to the non-market dimensions. A further provocative idea is that, in contrast, most of the currently available alternative indicators, including subjective well-being indexes, are not as respectful of people's values because, like GDP, they are too narrow and give specific weights to the various dimensions of life in a more uniform way, without taking account of the diversity of views on life in the population. The popular attraction that such alternative indicators derive from being non-monetary is therefore based on equivocation. Moreover, it is argued in this book that "greening" GDP and relative indicators is not the proper way to incorporate sustainability concerns. Sustainability involves predicting possible future paths, therefore different indicators than those assessing the current situation. While various indicators have been popular (adjusted net savings, ecological footprint), none of them involves the necessary forecasting effort that a proper evaluation of possible futures requires.

Author : Jean-Yves Duclos,Abdelkrim Araar
Publisher : IDRC
Page : 416 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2006-06-28
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0387258930

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Poverty and Equity by Jean-Yves Duclos,Abdelkrim Araar Pdf

This text addresses the understanding and alleviation of poverty, inequality, and inequity using a unique and broad mix of concepts, measurement methods, statistical tools, software, and practical exercises. Part I discusses basic fundamental issues of well-being and poverty measurement. Part II develops an integrated framework for measuring poverty, social welfare, inequality, vertical equity, horizontal equity, and redistribution. Part III presents and develops recent methods for testing the robustness of distributive rankings. Part IV discusses ways of using policy to alleviate poverty, improve welfare, increase equity, and assess the impact of growth. Part V applies the tools to real data. Most of the book’s measurement and statistical tools have been programmed in DAD, a well established and widely available free software program that has been tailored especially for income distribution analysis and is used by scholars, researchers, and analysts in nearly 100 countries worldwide. It requires basic understanding of calculus and statistics. Abdelkrim Araar and Jean-Yves Duclos teach economics at Université Laval in Québec City.

Author : George W. McKenzie
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 201 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 1983-03-10
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780521248624

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Measuring Economic Welfare by George W. McKenzie Pdf

Professor McKenzie proposes and formulates a method composed of operational procedures designed to facilitate the evaluation of economic projects and policies. This method is discussed fully, illustrated by simple examples, and compared with alternative procedures. An outline of a computer program that enables readers to undertake their own calculations is included. In order to present the approach clearly, the author provides an exposition of the fundamental ideas and the main alternative approaches to the problem. These rely on various forms of index numbers and consumer surplus. However, as is well known, such measures are not capable of correctly ordering the various alternatives under consideration, except under highly unrealist assumptions. In this book the author suggests the abandonment of this traditional approach based on the concept of 'willingness-to-pay' or the conpensating variation. Instead, the measure that Samuelson has called the 'money-metric' should become the cornerstone of applied welfare economics.

Author : Marc Fleurbaey,François Maniquet
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 315 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2011-06-13
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781139498777

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A Theory of Fairness and Social Welfare by Marc Fleurbaey,François Maniquet Pdf

The definition and measurement of social welfare have been a vexed issue for the past century. This book makes a constructive, easily applicable proposal and suggests how to evaluate the economic situation of a society in a way that gives priority to the worse-off and that respects each individual's preferences over his or her own consumption, work, leisure and so on. This approach resonates with the current concern to go 'beyond the GDP' in the measurement of social progress. Compared to technical studies in welfare economics, this book emphasizes constructive results rather than paradoxes and impossibilities, and shows how one can start from basic principles of efficiency and fairness and end up with concrete evaluations of policies. Compared to more philosophical treatments of social justice, this book is more precise about the definition of social welfare and reaches conclusions about concrete policies and institutions only after a rigorous derivation from clearly stated principles.

Author : Hyun Hwa Son
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 274 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2013-04-03
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781136579325

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Equity and Well-Being by Hyun Hwa Son Pdf

Equity is an abstract concept covering philosophical issues such as fairness and social justice, making its definition and measurement complex. This volume tackles these complexities head-on. The book is enriched with many empirical analyses and provides a comprehensive analysis of equity ranging from concepts and measurements to empirical illustrations and policy implications. After an extensive discussion on equity in the introduction, this volume begins with a chapter on well-being where the concepts of functioning and capability are discussed. This is followed by a few chapters on what an equitable distribution is and how equity can be measured. The volume then provides a definition and a methodology to measure equitable growth, examining the relationship between growth, inequality, and poverty. It also presents various empirical illustrations and country-specific experiences with three country case studies which assess whether publicly provided health and education services are equitable in developing Asia, examining the extent to which these social services favor the poor as well as the policy challenges to a more equitable delivery of these services. Finally, these country studies provide evidence–based policy recommendations to improve equity in social service delivery in developing countries. Achieving social equity has long been an important policy goal. There are relatively few studies on equity. This book aims to help fill this gap with an in-depth analysis of the issues associated with equity, covering its concept, measurement, and policy practices and implications.

Author : R. W. Blundell,Ian Preston,Ian Walker
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 295 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 1994-09-15
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780521451956

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The Measurement of Household Welfare by R. W. Blundell,Ian Preston,Ian Walker Pdf

The measurement of household welfare is one of the most compelling yet demanding areas in economics. To place the analysis of inequality and poverty within an economic framework where individuals are making decisions about current and lifetime incomes and expenditures is a difficult task, made all the more challenging by the complexity of the decision-making process in which households are involved and the variety of constraints they face. This 1994 book examines the conceptual and practical difficulties of making inferences from observed behaviour. It addresses the problems of making comparisons across a range of very different households and discusses how data for such comparisons should be collected. The contributions, from experts from Europe, North America and Australia, have the unifying theme that there is a strong relationship between theoretical concepts from microeconomics and the appropriate use of micro data in evaluating household welfare.

Author : Daniel T. Slesnick
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 246 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780521497206

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Consumption and Social Welfare by Daniel T. Slesnick Pdf

Designed to be accessible to noneconomists, it relegates technical details to appendixes."--BOOK JACKET.

Author : Per-Olov Johansson
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 194 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 1991-08-22
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0521356954

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An Introduction to Modern Welfare Economics by Per-Olov Johansson Pdf

This is the first book in welfare economics to be primarily intended for undergraduates and non-specialists. Concepts such as Pareto optimality in a market economy, the compensation criterion, and the social welfare function are explored in detail. Market failures are analysed by using different ways of measuring welfare changes. The book also examines public choice, and the issues of provision of public goods, median voter equilibrium, government failures, efficient and optimal taxation, and intergenerational equity. The three final chapters are devoted to applied welfare economics: methods for revealing people's preferences, cost-benefit analysis, and project evaluation in a risky world. The book is intended for introductory and intermediate courses in welfare economics, microeconomics, and public economics. It will also be suitable for courses in health economics, environmental economics, and cost-benefit analysis, as well as those undertaking project evaluations in government agencies and private firms.

Author : James Midgley
Publisher : SAGE
Page : 268 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 1997-03-26
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0761907882

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Social Welfare in Global Context by James Midgley Pdf

James Midgley provides a broad overview of social welfare, outlining key institutions, terminology, historical research, and approaches. He also details reasons for the existence of international social welfare and the challenges that arise from it. The author includes an important section on applied international social welfare that addresses the concerns of practitioners--concerns that have been neglected in much of the literature in the field. An entire section of the book is devoted to issues of social work practice, social developments, the activities of international agencies, and their collaborative efforts. While practical application is an important focus of the book, several chapters deal with key theoretical debates in the field. The author also includes descriptive chapters that provide comprehensive accounts of world social conditions and social welfare institutions.