Efficiency, equality and public policy : with a case for higher public spending /
Yew-Kwang Ng.
- x, 189 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 169-183) and indexes.
A dollar is a dollar: a simple solution to the big efficiency-equality tradeoff -- A partial resurrection of the old 'new welfare economics'? -- Introductory summary -- A case for higher public spending -- The misguided consensus -- Three basic problems of social choice/public policy -- Some specific points made -- A methodological note -- What this book is not about -- The Foundation of Public Economic Policy -- The Necessity of Interpersonal Cardinal Utility -- An intuitive explanation using a parent's choice -- Economists' misplaced hostility against cardinal utility -- The impossibility of social choice based on ordinal utilities -- Welfarism -- The Sen-Ng debate on welfarism: an appraisal -- Another argument for welfarism -- Rational individualism implies welfarism -- Utility, Informed Preference, or Happiness -- Non-affective altruism: the pure concern for the welfare of others -- Irrational preferences -- Autonomous desires -- Why is happiness fundamental? -- Utilitarianism -- Compelling arguments for utilitarianism -- Rational individualistic egalitarianism implies utilitarianism -- A defence of Harsanyi against some recent criticisms -- A defence of using just perceptible increments -- Utilitarianism and process fairness -- A Dollar is a Dollar: Solution to the Paradox of Interpersonal Cardinal Utility -- The paradox of interpersonal cardinal utility -- The proposed solution -- Economists should be in favour of reversed weighting! -- Some qualifications -- Economics versus Politics -- How Much Should the Government Spend?
Economists overestimate the costs of public spending by emphasizing the excess burden of taxation, ignoring the offsetting effects on the spending side, the existence of environmental disruption effects and burden-free taxes on diamond goods.