MONEY METRICS IN APPLIED WELFARE ANALYSIS: A SADDLEPOINT REHABILITATION

B-Tier
Journal: International Economic Review
Year: 2022
Volume: 63
Issue: 1
Pages: 189-210

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Once a popular tool to estimate welfare changes, the money metric of McKenzie‐Samuelson gradually faded from use after welfare theorists and practitioners argued that it led to inegalitarian recommendations. We prove that, at a competitive equilibrium price, any associated competitive allocation maximizes the money‐metric sum; and, as is well understood, competitive allocations can be egalitarian or inegalitarian. The result applies to economies in which individual demand is not rationalizable by any binary relation, let alone a binary relation representable by a utility function, a behavioral setting considered, for example, in Bernheim–Rangel.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:wly:iecrev:v:63:y:2022:i:1:p:189-210
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25