福利经济学中非福利主义的兴起

福利主义认为,判断社会福利的高低,只要判断社会成员效用水平的高低即可。长期以来,福利经济学一直坚持福利主义的观点,但是20世纪70年代以后,福利经济学兴起了非福利主义的研究浪潮。福利主义被非福利主义取代的原因有四:阿罗不可能性定理、帕累托标准的缺陷、理论上对效率和公平问题的重新思考,以及实践中对效率和公平问题的重新思考。非福利主义的研究包括对传统的“理性经济人”假设提出质疑,对自由、个人权利、个人生活水平等问题所作的进一步研究,等等。

The Rise of Non-Welfarism in Welfare Economics

The welfareists claim that to judge the standard of welfare in a society one needs only to look at the level of utility among members of that society. For a long time, welfare economics has maintained this welfarist idea. However, there arose a wave of research on non-welfare among scholars of welfare economics since the 1970s. Four reasons can be referred to account for the replacement of welfarism by non-welfarism. Arrow's Impossibility Theorem,defects in the Pareto Criterion,theoretical reconsideration of efficiency and fairness, and practical reconsideration of efficiency and fairness. Researches of non-welfarism include questioning the hypothesis of "rational economic agents", and issues concerning liberty, individual rights, individual standard of living.