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12 results

  • 14 - Conclusion

  • from Part II - Developing Modern Welfare Economics
  • Edited by Roger E. Backhouse, Antoinette Baujard, Tamotsu Nishizawa
  • Book:
    Welfare Theory, Public Action, and Ethical Values
    Published online:
    04 March 2021
    Print publication:
    25 March 2021, pp 320-331

  • Summary

    The chapter reflects on reasons economists have departed from welfarism when considering practical problems. Economists generally accept that using ethical values other than individual utility requires departing from neutrality but, if confronted with political contexts involving issues such as distribution, the environment or discrimination, they find it hard not to take an ethical position. Merit or public goods cannot be reduced to the satisfaction of individual utilities insofar as they are meaningful only in a social context. The individualism imposed by welfarism is also debatable when facing the interdependencies that exist between real-world individuals. Lastly, while welfare economics aims to avoid paternalism, reliance on preferences alone can be problematic. The paternalism implied by going beyond welfarism raises issues regarding democratic values such as agency and public reasoning that suggests that, instead of merely substituting non-welfarism for welfarism, there is a need for public debate on moral values. We conclude that economics, when inspired by theory and involved in practices with political consequences, should become more of a moral science.

Welfare Theory, Public Action, and Ethical Values
  • Revisiting the History of Welfare Economics
  • Edited by Roger E. Backhouse, Antoinette Baujard, Tamotsu Nishizawa
  • Published online:
    04 March 2021
    Print publication:
    25 March 2021
  • This innovative history of welfare economics challenges the view that welfare economics can be discussed without taking ethical values into account. Whatever their theoretical commitments, when economists have considered practical problems relating to public policy, they have adopted a wider range of ethical values, whether equality, justice, freedom, or democracy. Even canonical authors in the history of welfare economics are shown to have adopted ethical positions different from those with which they are commonly associated. Welfare Theory, Public Action, and Ethical Values explores the reasons and implications of this, drawing on concepts of welfarism and non-welfarism developed in modern welfare economics. The authors exemplify how economic theory, public affairs and political philosophy interact, challenging the status quo in order to push economists and historians to reconsider the nature and meaning of welfare economics.