Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

1 results

  • 4 - Equilibrium Theory and Normative Economics

  • from Part I - Introduction: Content, Structure, and Strategy of Mainstream Economics
  • Daniel M. Hausman, Rutgers University, New Jersey
  • Book:
    The Inexact and Separate Science of Economics
    Published online:
    25 May 2023
    Print publication:
    08 June 2023, pp 97-124

  • Summary

    Chapter 4 sketches the contemporary theory of economic welfare. It argues that welfare economics is a theoretically driven discipline, whose questions are determined more by equilibrium theory than by practical problems of economic welfare. Section 1 begins with the fundamental question: what is welfare or, synonymously, well-being? Section 2 explains why the answer that economists give has led them to eschew utilitarianism, and it links this chapter to the previous three, presenting the fundamental theorems of welfare economics, the grounds for the admiration economists have for the operation of perfectly competitive markets, the problems of markets that are not perfectly competitive, and further theorems concerning social choice and welfare. Section 3 turns to practical work in welfare economics and the foundations of cost-benefit analysis. Section 4 ends with an overview, including some remarks about alternatives to mainstream normative economics.