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Money Metric Measures of Individual and Social Welfare Allowing for Environmental Externalities

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Models and Measurement of Welfare and Inequality

Abstract

Even with environmental externalities, money metric measures of individual welfare can often be constructed by methods similar to those of Vartia (1983), provided that individual’s willingness to pay functions are known. Satisfactory money metric measures of social welfare are harder, however. Following Feldstein (1974) and Rosen (1976), a “uniform” money metric measure is proposed, based on the uniform poll subsidy (or tax) to all individuals which produces the same gain (or loss) in social welfare. Finally, problems with the definition of such measures when faced with “environmental catastrophe” are discussed.

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© 1994 Springer-Verlag Berlin · Heidelberg

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Hammond, P.J. (1994). Money Metric Measures of Individual and Social Welfare Allowing for Environmental Externalities. In: Eichhorn, W. (eds) Models and Measurement of Welfare and Inequality. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79037-9_37

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79037-9_37

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-79039-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-79037-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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