Abstract
The article deals with the related, though distinct, notions of a social welfare function due to A. Bergson and P. Samuelson on the one hand and K.J. Arrow on the other. After introducing the two formal concepts, it gives a brief outline of Arrow’s well-known impossibility theorem, considers some alternative intuitive interpretations of the notion of a social welfare function, and discusses the informational bases of social welfare judgements.
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Pattanaik, P.K. (2018). Social Welfare Function. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_1348
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_1348
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Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95189-5
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