Biological welfare economics: a natural science critique of normative economics

Terence C. Burnham () and Jay Phelan
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Terence C. Burnham: Chapman University
Jay Phelan: UCLA

Journal of Bioeconomics, 2023, vol. 25, issue 1, No 1, 33 pages

Abstract: Abstract Welfare economics analyzes societal well-being based on individual levels of self-evaluated happiness or “utility.” All human emotions, including what economists label as utility, are evolutionary creations, shaped by natural selection for the sole purpose of altering individuals’ behavior in ways that maximize their relative reproductive success. Because of the evolutionary origins and nature of human motivations, welfare economics has little to say about societal well-being. While welfare economics is not useful for normative statements, it nonetheless provides a measure of the difficulties in implementing policy.

Keywords: Welfare economics; Pareto optimality; Welfare theorems; Natural Selection; Evolution; Genetic mismatch (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s10818-023-09333-x

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