 Individual Preferences, Efficiency, and Cost-Benefit AnalysisAmitava Dutt and Charles K. Wilber Chapter 8 in Economics and Ethics, 2010, pp 141-157 from Palgrave Macmillan Abstract: Abstract Individual preferences have a central role in mainstream economic theory not only because they can be used to explain and predict individual and group behavior, but also because they can be used to evaluate the aggregate outcomes of such behavior. Thus, they are employed to examine whether a particular outcome is good or bad, and also to evaluate if a change that occurs is good or not. More specifically, they are utilized for evaluating the desirability of particular economic policies and to examine whether this or that policy change should be undertaken. For instance, should the government cut taxes on rich households? Or they can be used to answer whether a policy change which has been undertaken has been successful or not. For instance, is the increase in the tax rate on cigarette sales to be considered a success? Even more specifically, they are used to evaluate specific projects: Should the city government build a sports stadium? This chapter will examine to what extent such evaluations based on individual preferences are justified. Keywords: Individual Preference; Consumption Capital; Consumer Surplus; Social Welfare Function; Utility Level (search for similar items in EconPapers) There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-27723-6_8 Ordering information: This item can be ordered from Access Statistics for this chapter More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan |
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