Abstract
The concept of justice is often invoked in economic discussions. Its relevance to economic evaluation is obvious enough. However, it is fair to say that in traditional welfare economics, when the notion of justice has been invoked, it has typically been seen only as a part of a bigger exercise, viz., that of social welfare maximization, rather than taking justice as an idea that commands attention on its own. For example, in utilitarian welfare economics (e.g. Pigou, 1952; Harsanyi, 1955) the problem of justice is not separated out from that of maximization of aggregate utility. This situation has been changing in recent years, partly as a result of developments in moral philosophy dealing explicitly with the notion of justice as a concept of independent importance (see especially Rawls, 1971, 1980).
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Sen, A. (1989). Justice. In: Eatwell, J., Milgate, M., Newman, P. (eds) Social Economics. The New Palgrave. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19806-1_23
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