Template-Type: ReDIF-Article 1.0
Author-Name: Mario Pomini 
Author-Email:
Author-Workplace-Name: University of Padua - Department of Economics and Management
Title: Beyond Welfarism: Welfare Economics in Pareto's Treatise 
Abstract: Pareto’s contribution to the study of economic welfare is probably his most important contribution
to economic science. The first theorem was invented by Vilfredo Pareto in 1906 and it was subsequently
forgotten. Only after the Second World War it has been rediscovered, becoming the canonical
tool of the welfare economics. In Pareto’s welfare theory it is not possible to find something similar
to the second fundamental theorem of welfare. In this contribution I will explore essentially two
aspects relatively unnoticed. The first is the relevance of the distinction operated by Pareto of the utility
for the collectivity and of the collectivity in terms of social welfare. The second is the relationships
of the welfare function proposed by Pareto with the subsequent evolution of the literature on this
topic. We will see that the Pareto’s position is immune from some criticism of the welfarism, i.e., the
typical assumption advanced by the economists
Classification-JEL: A14, B10, B16 
Keywords: History of welfare economics; Pareto; social welfare function 
Journal: Il Pensiero Economico Italiano
Pages: 79-88
Volume: 24
Issue: 2
Year: 2016
File-URL: http://www.libraweb.net/articoli.php?chiave=201606302&rivista=63
Handle: RePEc:pei:journl:v:24:y:2016:2:6:p:79-88