Human Well-Being and Economic Goals

by Ackerman, Frank; Kiron, David; Goodwin, Neva R.; Harris, Jonathan M.; Gallagher, Kevin P.

• ISBN13: 9781559635615
• ISBN10: 1559635614
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-10-01
• Publisher: Island Pr

Summary

What are the ends of economic activity? According to neoclassical theory, efficient interaction of the profit-maximizing "ideal producer" and the utility-maximizing "ideal consumer" will eventually lead to some sort of social optimum. But is that social optimum the same as human well-being? Human Well-Being and Economic Goalsaddresses that issue, considering such questions as: Does the maximization of individual welfare really lead to social welfare? How can we deal with questions of relative welfare and of equity? How do we define, or at least understand, individual and social welfare? And how can these things be measured, or even assessed? Human Well-Being and Economic Goalsbrings together more than 75 concise summaries of the most significant literature in the field that consider issues of present and future individual and social welfare, national development, consumption, and equity. Like its predecessors in the Frontier Issues in Economic Thoughtseries, it takes a multidisciplinary approach to economic concerns, examining their sociological, philosophical, and psychological aspects and implications as well as their economic underpinnings.Human Well-Being and Economic Goalsprovides a powerful introduction to the current and historical writings that examine the concept of human well-being in ways that can help us to set goals for economic activity and judge its success. It is a valuable summary and overview for students, economists, and social scientists concerned with these issues.

Table of Contents

Authors of Original Articles	xvii	(4)
Foreword	xxi	(2)
Tibor Scitovsky
Acknowledgments	xxiii	(2)
Volume Introduction	xxv
Neva R. Goodwin
PART I Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Well-Being	1	(48)
Overview Essay	1	(14)
Neva R. Goodwin
Alternative Conceptions of the Economic Realm	15	(3)
Jerome M. Segal
The Meaning, Nature, and Source of Value in Economics	18	(4)
Tibor Scitovsky
Human Values and Economic Behavior: A Model of Moral Economy	22	(4)
John Oliver Wilson
Material Well-Being and Human Well-Being	26	(3)
Peter Travers
Sue Richardson
The Joyless Market Economy	29	(4)
Robert E. Lane
Economic Institutions and the Satisfaction of Human Needs	33	(3)
Ian Gough
The Ethical Limitations of the Market	36	(4)
Elizabeth Anderson
Human Well-Being and the Natural World and Nature, Intrinsic Value, and Human Well-Being	40	(4)
John O'Neill
Taking Ethics Seriously: Economics and Contemporary Moral Philosophy	44	(5)
Daniel M. Hausman
Michael S. McPherson
PART II Utility and Welfare I: The History of Economic Thought	49	(32)
Overview Essay	49	(9)
Frank Ackerman
Adam Smith on Justice and Distribution in Commercial Societies	58	(3)
John Salter
Jeremy Bentham	61	(3)
John Bonner
Pure versus Eclectic Utilitarianism: The Writings of Bastiat and Mill	64	(3)
E. K. Hunt
Philosophy and Economics in the Writings of Karl Marx	67	(3)
E. K. Hunt
The Neoclassics: Utility	70	(4)
Joan Robinson
Jevons, Marshall, and the Utilitarian Tradition	74	(3)
R. D. Collison Black
Thorstein Veblen	77	(4)
E. K. Hunt
PART III Utility and Welfare II: Modern Economic Alternatives	81	(40)
Overview Essay	81	(12)
Frank Ackerman
Were the Ordinalists Wrong About Welfare Economics?	93	(4)
Robert Cooter
Peter Rappoport
Keynes's Political Philosophy	97	(3)
Rod O'Donnell
Welfare Economics	100	(3)
Peter Jackson
The Invisible Hand and Modern Welfare Economics	103	(4)
Joseph E. Stiglitz
Social Choice: The Science of the Impossible?	107	(3)
Peter J. Hammond
Some Nonwelfaristic Issues in Welfare Economics	110	(3)
Prasanta K. Pattanaik
Game and Decision-Theoretic Models in Ethics	113	(3)
J. C. Harsanyi
A New Welfare Theory	116	(5)
Robin Hahnel
Michael Albert
PART IV Applied Welfare Economics: Externalities, Valuation, and Cost-Benefit Analysis	121	(44)
Overview Essay	121	(11)
Frank Ackerman
Beyond the Dark Clouds: Pigou and Coase on Social Cost	132	(3)
Nahid Aslanbeigui
Steven G. Medema
On Lemmings and Other Acquisitive Animals: Propositions on Consumption	135	(2)
E. K. Hunt
Ralph C. D'Arge
Choices without Prices without Apologies	137	(4)
A. Vatn
D. W. Bromley
"Ask a Silly Question...": Contingent Valuation of Natural Resource Damages	141	(3)
Harvard Law Review Editor's Comment
Valuing the Environment through Contingent Valuation	144	(3)
W. Michael Hanemann
Regulating the Electricity Supply Industry by Valuing Environmental Effects: How Much Is the Emperor Wearing?	147	(3)
Andrew Stirling
The Moral Dimension of Cost-Benefit Analysis, with Particular Reference to the Ozone Problem	150	(4)
Ezra J. Mishan
Talbot Page
Intergenerational Transfers and the Social Discount Rate	154	(3)
Richard B. Howarth
Richard B. Norgaard
Cost-Benefit Analysis, Safety, and Environmental Quality	157	(4)
Elizabeth Anderson
Selections from Benefit, Cost, and Beyond	161	(4)
James T. Campen
PART V Economics and the Good, I: Individuals	165	(38)
Overview Essay	165	(9)
David Kiron
Who Is Happy?	174	(3)
David G. Myers
Ed Diener
New Challenges to the Rationality Assumption	177	(3)
Daniel Kahneman
Frames of Reference and Quality of Life	180	(4)
Robert H. Frank
Against Parsimony: Three Easy Ways of Complicating Some Categories of Economic Discourse	184	(4)
Albert O. Hirschman
Should Preferences Count?	188	(3)
Mark Sagoff
Value, Desire, and Quality of Life	191	(3)
Thomas Scanlon
Me and My Life	194	(3)
Shelly Kagan
Amartya Sen's Contributions to Understanding Personal Welfare	197	(6)
David Kiron
PART VI Economics and the Good, II: Community	203	(36)
Overview Essay	203	(8)
David Kiron
The Prosperous Community: Social Capital and Public Life	211	(2)
Robert Putnam
Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital	213	(3)
James S. Coleman
Winner-Take-All Markets and The Growth of Winner-Take-All-Markets	216	(4)
Robert H. Frank
Philip J. Cook
Gang Behavior, Law Enforcement, and Community Values	220	(3)
George Akerlof
Janet L. Yellen
Institutions and Morale: The Crowding-Out Effect	223	(4)
Bruno S. Frey
Return of the Citizen: A Survey of Recent Work on Citizenship Theory	227	(4)
Will Kymlicka
Wayne Norman
Trust as a Commodity	231	(3)
Partha Dasgupta
Amending the Economist's "Rational Egoist" Model to Include Moral Values and Norms	234	(5)
Robert S. Goldfarb
William B. Griffith
PART VII Economics and the Good, III: Society	239	(42)
Overview Essay	239	(10)
David Kiron
Welfare, Resources, and Capabilities: A Review of Inequality Reexamined by Amartya Sen	249	(3)
Robert Sugden
Distributive Justice, Welfare Economics, and the Theory of Fairness	252	(3)
Hal R. Varian
Complex Equality	255	(3)
Michael Walzer
Equality of Talent	258	(4)
John E. Roemer
Equal Opportunity or Equal Social Outcome?	262	(4)
Marc Fleurbaey
Coherence Against the Pareto Principle and Equality	266	(3)
John Broome
Distributive Justice and Desirable Ends of Economic Activity	269	(4)
Kenneth Arrow
Aristotelian Social Democracy	273	(3)
Martha Nussbaum
Social Unity and Primary Goods	276	(5)
John Rawls
PART VIII National Development: From Basic Needs to the Welfare State	281	(54)
Overview Essay	281	(11)
Frank Ackerman
The Evolution of Development Thought	292	(5)
Paul Streeten
Positive Freedom, Markets, and the Welfare State	297	(4)
Partha Dasgupta
Functioning and Capability: The Foundations of Sen's and Nussbaum's Development Ethic, Parts 1 and 2	301	(7)
David A. Crocker
Connecting, Extending, Reversing: Development from a Gender Perspective	308	(4)
Naila Kabeer
Inequality and Growth Reconsidered: Lessons from East Asia	312	(4)
Nancy Birdsall
David Ross
Richard Sabot
Economic Theory and the Welfare State: A Survey and Interpretation	316	(4)
Nicholas Barr
Welfare	320	(4)
Robert Kuttner
What Is Distinctive About Swedish Social Democratic Ideology?	324	(5)
Timothy Tilton
The Three Political Economies of the Welfare State	329	(6)
Gosta Esping-Andersen
PART IX Critiques of National Income Accounting and GNP	335	(38)
Overview Essay	335	(7)
Jonathan M. Harris
The Concept of National Income	342	(5)
Simon Kuznets
Output	347	(4)
Fred Block
Divergences of Measurement and Theory and Some Implications for Economic Policy	351	(4)
Robert Eisner
Selections from Counting for Nothing: What Men Value and What Women Are Worth	355	(3)
Marilyn J. Waring
Measuring Household Activities: Some International Comparisons	358	(3)
Ann Chadeau
National Income Accounts and the Environment	361	(4)
Henry M. Peskin
Environmental and Natural Resource Accounting: Where to Begin?	365	(4)
Carrie A. Meyer
The Indicators Crisis	369	(4)
Hazel Henderson
PART X Alternatives to Gross National Product: A Critical Survey	373	(30)
Essay	373	(30)
Richard W. England
References	403	(4)
Subject Index	407	(16)
Name Index	423