The public at large, many policymakers, and some economists hold views of social welfare that attach some importance to … factors other than individuals' utilities. This note shows that any such non-individualistic notion of social welfare …

We propose a broad generalization of standard choice-theoretic welfare economics that encompasses a wide variety of non … therefore suitable for welfare analysis; it is also the most discerning welfare criterion that never overrules choice. The … resulting framework generates natural counterparts for the standard tools of applied welfare economics, and is easily applied in …

We empirically test an information economics based theory of social preferences in which ego utility and self … a large price discount for the good. The combined evidence supports the self-signaling theory whereby price discounts … crowd out a consumer's self-inference of altruism from buying a good bundled with a charitable donation. Alternative …

A long-standing challenge for welfare economics is to develop welfare criteria that can be applied to allocations with … population size and the welfare of each person alive. A welfare criterion that speaks to this issue inherently requires … evaluating the welfare of nonexistent people, because some people exist only in some allocations but not in others. To make …

In this paper, I show that, under relatively weak conditions, dynastic equilibria are never welfare optima. If a social … planner sets policy to maximize a social welfare function, then, except in extreme cases where the planner cares only about a …

social welfare. The level of gift-giving thus will be lower than is optimal. A subsidy can correct this problem, while …

economic welfare. The paper begins by examining how capital income taxes reduce the real return to savers and then discusses … the welfare loss of capital income taxation relative to the alternatives of taxing consumption and labor income.The second … may weaken capitalism itself. In the US a decade of slow growth has increased protectionist tendencies in international …