TY - BOOK AU - Ng,Yew-Kwang TI - Efficiency, equality and public policy: with a case for higher public spending SN - 0333671651 AV - H97 .N5 2000 U1 - 338.9 21 PY - 2000/// CY - New York PB - Macmillan Press Ltd. KW - Policy sciences KW - Economic policy KW - Expenditures, Public KW - Decision making N1 - 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? N2 - 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. UR - http://www.loc.gov/catdir/bios/hol057/99056733.html UR - http://www.loc.gov/catdir/description/hol057/99056733.html UR - http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/hol053/99056733.html ER -