An economic analysis of social welfare

Abstract

An economic analysis of social welfare Welfare economics may be defined as the branch of study which formu lates propositions by which we can say that the social welfare in one economic situation is higher or lower than in another (Ng 2004, 2015(1)). Briefly, it is the economic analysis of social welfare. As a society consists of individuals in that society, social welfare is just the welfare of individuals in that society. Here, welfare is defined as the happiness of the individual. Though some authors since Aristotle require some ethical/eudemonic elements in the definition of welfare in addition to happiness, I argue (Ng 2022, Ch.1) that it is most simple to separate the subjective/hedonic element from the eudemonic element; the latter element being regarded as an issue in morality, not in the concept of welfare or happiness