Welfare Economics

Europena PhD in Socio-Economic and Statistical Studies

2020-21

(15 hours)

Topics

Defining social welfare criteria

The Pareto principle

The two fundamental theorems of Welfare Economics

Social welfare functions

Applying social welfare criteria: the distributional analysis

Inequality and poverty

- Defining inequality and poverty

- Why inequality and poverty matter

- Measuring inequality and poverty (partial and aggregated indicators)

- Some empirical evidence

The evaluation of distributional dynamics

- Dynamics of poverty and inequality

- Intertemporal poverty and intertemporal pro-poorness

- The Growth Incidence Curve

- Mobility profiles and normative support

- Aggregate indicators of mobility

Inequality of opportunity

- Defining inequality of opportunity

- Why inequality of opportunity matters

- Measuring inequality of opportunity

- Some empirical evidence

Multidimensional extensions

- Multidimensional poverty and inequality (aggregate indicators)

Suggested Readings (The final list will be available at the end of the course)

For the first part

Public Finance and Public Choice: Analytical Perspectives. John Cullis and Philip Jones, third edition, Oxford University Press (2009)

Intermediate Public Economics. Jean Hindriks and Gareth D. Myles, The Mit Press, 2nd edition (2013)

For the second part

Aaberge, R., & Brandolini, A. (2015). Multidimensional poverty and inequality. In Handbook of income distribution (Vol. 2, pp. 141-216). Elsevier.

Bussolo, M., Ferrer-i-Carbonell, A., Giolbas, A., Torre, I. (2019). I Perceive therefore I Demand: The Formation of Inequality

Perceptions and Demand for Redistribution. ECINEQ Working Paper Series N. 395.

Ferreira, F. H. (2010). Distributions in motion: economic growth, inequality, and poverty dynamics. The World Bank.

Jantti, M., Jenkins, S. P. (2015). Income mobility. In Handbook of income distribution

(Vol. 2, pp. 807-935). Elsevier.

Lambert, P.J. (2001). The distribution and redistribution of income, Manchester University Press.

Palmisano, F. (2018). Evaluating patterns of income growth when status matters: a robust approach. Review of Income and Wealth, 64(1), 147-169.

Ramos, X., & Van de Gaer, D. (2016). Approaches to inequality of opportunity: Principles, measures and evidence. Journal of Economic Surveys, 30(5), 855-883.

Roemer, J. E., & Trannoy, A. (2016). Equality of opportunity: Theory and measurement. Journal of Economic Literature, 54(4), 1288-1332.

Zheng, B. (1997). Aggregate poverty measures. Journal of Economic Surveys, 11(2), 123-162.

Zheng, B. (2000). Poverty orderings. Journal of Economic Surveys, 14(4), 427-466.