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Hitesh Jhanji, Lovely Professional University Unit-25: The Social Welfare Function

Notes
Unit-25: The Social Welfare Function

CONTENTS

Objectives
Introduction

25.1 Bergson’s Social Welfare

25.2 Summary
25.3 Keywords

25.4 Review Questions
25.5 Further Readings

Objectives
After studying this unit, students will be able to:

• Know about Social welfare function.
• Explain the criticism of the social welfare function.
• Discuss the equation of social welfare function.
• Study the majority rule.

Introduction
Prof. Bergson presented the theory of social welfare function for the first time and later Samuelsson,
Tintner and Arrow have further developed this theory. Their opinion is that without adding value
judgments, there cannot be any meaningful propositions in welfare economics. The concept of social
welfare is an attempt to present the idealistic study of welfare economics from scientific view.

25.1 Bergson’s Social Welfare

Social welfare function represents those factors on which welfare of society is assumed to be dependent.
According to the definition given by Bergson, it is “either function of welfare of each individual of
the community or is the function of goods consumed by each individual of the community and
services rendered.” In its original form, Bergson has presented social welfare function in an ordinary
way. “This is that function which relates social welfare and all those possible variables which affect
welfare of each individual like services and consumption of each individual. It can be assumed that
“it is each individual’s welfare function which successively depends as his personal evaluation of
relation between that individual’s own best state and distributed welfare among all members of the

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