Welfare economics / edited by Bhaskar Dutta
- Delhi Oxford University Press 1994
- 256 p.
Themes in Economics is a new series of books devoted to economic analysis relating to problems of the Indian economy.
This volume focuses on the field of welfare economics. In his introduction, the volume editor, Bhaskar Dutta, surveys the landmark contributions in this field. Dilip Mookherjee follows with a discussion of the failure of the market to achieve efficiency. Rajiv Vohra goes into the implications of this. M. N. Murty and Pulin Nayak review the literature on optimal taxation, and discuss some applications with Indian data. Debraj Ray and Arunava Sen discuss the issue of 'quantities versus prices' as alternative means of economic control. Prasanta Pattanaik closes with a survey of some of the recent literature on individual rights and liberty, and also on the non-welfarist approach to the measurement of the standard of living.
This book is of seminal importance to those interested in knowing and understanding welfare economics and its concerns.