Scitovsky paradox
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) |
The Scitovsky paradox is a paradox in welfare economics which is resolved by stating that there is no increase in social welfare by a return to the original part of the losers. It is named after the Hungarian born American economist, Tibor Scitovsky.
What Scitovsky demonstrated was it is possible that if an allocation A is deemed superior to another allocation B by the Kaldor compensation criteria, then by a subsequent set of moves by the same criteria, we can prove that B is also superior to A.
The paradox occurs when the gainer from the change of allocation A to allocation B can compensate the loser for making the change, but the loser could also then compensate the gainer for going back to the original position.
Further reading[edit]
- Scitovsky (1976). The Joyless Economy: An Inquiry into Human Satisfaction and Consumer Dissatisfaction. Oxford. ISBN 0-19-507347-9.
 | This economics-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
