Utility and Welfare: a review of concpets, and a proposal

P. Cooper

Working Papers from Portsmouth University - Department of Economics

Abstract: What form of utility function can represent behaviour motivated by duty which leaves an agent worse off in material terms? In pursuit of an answer to this question, this paper investigates concepts of utility as explained in textbooks, and as discussed by earlier economists who were instrumental in the development of the economics of utility and welfare. It identifies some confusion of meaning between an agent's direct flow of satifaction from and simultaneous with an activity, and that agent's underlying level of well-being and satisfaction with life.

Keywords: UTILITY FUNCTION; SOCIAL WELFARE (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B00 D1 D6 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 26 pages
Date: 1997
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fth:portec:106

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