Purpose – The object of this paper is to demonstrate that the promotion of altruistic behavior can in fact be regarded as an instrument of public policy. Design/methodology/approach – This objective is achieved by adapting the standard theory of consumer behavior in microeconomics to the...

Purpose – This paper's purpose is to examine the nature and correlates of poverty in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach – Using the most recently published household living standards survey; the paper computes poverty indicators using the Foster et al., and Theil's inequality indicators to...

Purpose – Against a background of rising inequalities in transitional countries, the purpose of this study is to focus on the analysis of the self-perceived social stratification in the low-income countries of the South Caucasus. Design/methodology/approach – Using data from the recent...

Purpose – The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the social relevance of school transport in Flanders, Belgium, by using a social cost-benefit analysis (SCBA). Design/methodology/approach – The use of a SCBA already showed to be an appropriate tool for the appraisal of transport...

Purpose – The paper aims to examine and compare two understandings of liberty that have dealt successfully with the normative and analytical challenge of reconciling liberty with social justice: Philip Pettit's republican liberty as nondomination and Hobhouse's concept of liberty as personal...

Purpose – The paper attempts to empirically assess whether GDP per capita or the human capital index is a better measure of happiness. Design/methodology/approach – Cross-country regressions are run to see how GDP per capita fairs in comparison to the human capital index in explaining...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the possibility of using non-income indicators and the self-organizing map (SOM) approach as an alternative analytical tool to map countries' welfare status. Design/methodology/approach – Using data from 27 countries of the East Asia-Pacific...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the possibility of using non-income indicators and the self-organizing map (SOM) approach as an alternative analytical tool to map countries' welfare status. Design/methodology/approach – Using data from 27 countries of the East Asia-Pacific...

Purpose – If a society does not identify with purchase of illegal goods, consumers will undertake more psychological burden when buying the goods. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of social norm of anti-piracy on social welfare. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses...

Exchange-based societies widely disperse their day-to-day decisions among their members and components. They arrange pluralistic social processes by means of economic exchange. In such societies, the fundamental dynamic of exchange should be a central consideration of any social welfare...