Welfare Economics

Welfare economics is the study of how economic policies affect the well-being of individuals and society as a whole. It is a branch of economics that uses economic theory and methods to evaluate economic policies and to design policies that improve social welfare.

Welfare economics is concerned with the distribution of economic resources and how this distribution affects the well-being of individuals and society. It is also concerned with the efficiency of economic markets and how this efficiency affects the well-being of individuals and society.

Welfare economics has a long history, dating back to the work of Adam Smith in the 18th century. However, it was not until the 20th century that welfare economics became a formal field of study. In the 1930s, John Hicks and Vilfredo Pareto developed the foundations of welfare economics. In the 1950s, Kenneth Arrow developed the impossibility theorem, which showed that there is no perfect way to measure social welfare.

Today, welfare economics is a major field of study in economics. It is used to evaluate economic policies and to design policies that improve social welfare.