An Introduction to Modern Welfare Economics [Paperback]

This book in welfare economics covers concepts such as Pareto optimality in a market economy, the compensation criterion and the social welfare function.Public choice, the issues of efficient provision of public goods, government failures and efficient and optimal taxation are among the major topics covered in this introductory text that is geared to undergraduates.Public choice, the issues of efficient provision of public goods, government failures and efficient and optimal taxation are among the major topics covered in this introductory text that is geared to undergraduates.This is the first book on welfare economics to be primarily intended for undergraduates. It explores such concepts as Pareto optimality in a market economy, the compensation criterion, and the social welfare function, and analyzes market failures using different ways of measuring welfare changes. The book covers public choice, and the issues of efficient provision of public goods, government failures, and efficient and optimal taxation, concluding with an examination of applied welfare economics, methods for revealing people's preferences, cost-benefit analysis, and project evaluation in a risky world.Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Pareto optimality in a market economy; 3. The compensation principle and the social welfare function; 4. Measuring welfare changes; 5. Market failures - causes and welfare consequences; 6. Public choice; 7. A smorgasbord of further topics; 8. How to overcome the problem of preference revelation: practical methodologies; 9. Cost-benefit analysis; 10. The treatment of risk; Appendix; References. ...easily the best book I have read all year in terms of presentation, content and relevance, a pleasure to read....concepts are clearly and concisely presented in a coherent 'story.'....On a wider level the book also makes an important contribution to the development of the latter area of research within the environmental economics debate by underlining its validity as a subjectlC%