Interpersonal comparisons and individual welfare: back to James Mill

Victor Bianchini ()
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Victor Bianchini: PHARE - Philosophie, Histoire et Analyse des Représentations Économiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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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.

Keywords: James Mill; interpersonal comparisons; individual welfare (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-10-15
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Published in European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2015, 22 (6), pp.1064-1083. ⟨10.1080/09672567.2015.1091854⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03839469

DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2015.1091854

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