Interpersonal comparisons and individual welfare: back to James Mill

Victor Bianchini

The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2015, vol. 22, issue 6, 1064-1083

Abstract: This paper provides an interpretation and formal restatement of how for James Mill, each of us makes interpersonal comparisons for his own account. Such comparisons arise from what he considered the usual components of interest: wealth, power, and dignity. The way in which interpersonal comparisons influence our individual welfare depends on how we compare ourselves to others. When we endeavour to surpass others in a vicious way, interpersonal comparisons produce either pleasure or pain for ourselves and pain for others; when we endeavour to surpass others in a virtuous way, interpersonal comparisons tend, under certain conditions, to generate only pleasure for ourselves and for others.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2015.1091854

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