Abstract
In recent years, we have witnessed a number of critics and commentators who argue that the pursuit of efficiency spoils the realization of social values such as security, health, environment, and fairness. Is it really true that the pursuit of efficiency impedes social values? What are the social values to begin with? Are they to be distinguished from the individual values in the narrow sense defined in economics? In this chapter, we intend to review the relevant concepts and elucidate the relationship between social values and efficiency.
This chapter is based on the draft of my lecture given at Kumamoto Gakuen University in commemoration of the Department of International Economics on June 26, 2010. I appreciate Professor Moriki Hosoe for arrangement for the lecture and helpful discussion.
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Notes
- 1.
Given the budget (target) G 0 (= R 0), the socially optimal equilibrium must be located somewhere on the value frontier G O R O . The misallocation of resources arises from the swindle of the social indifference curve by that of the national enterprise.
- 2.
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Ohyama, M. (2016). Welfare and Efficiency: Socioeconomic Controversies in Modern Times. In: Macroeconomics, Trade, and Social Welfare. Advances in Japanese Business and Economics, vol 14. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55807-1_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55807-1_11
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