Re-envisioning the Social Welfare Function as a “Political Economy Function”

Abstract

An approach is outlined for generalising the notion of bargaining power in cooperative game theory to identify a “political economy function” as a conceptual approach for analysing power within a general equilibrium framework. Rather than being a completely new theory (as tried by Bartlett) this political economy function (PEF) can be viewed as simply another way of thinking about the social welfare function. However, if adopted in teaching and research, the PEF approach could bring power considerations to the fore instead of ignoring them as at present.