Description:
Recent work in behavioural economics has questioned traditional measures for welfare. This book asks whether a different measure for individual welfare can, and should, be found. This book explores whether a hedonistic view of welfare represents a viable alternative, and what its normative implications are. Binder follows a naturalistic methodology to examine the foundations of welfare, connecting the concept with a dynamic theory of preference learning, and providing a more realistic account of human behaviour.
Review Quotes:
"If the assumption is no longer that our preferences and wants are fixed but that they change over time, how should we think of economic welfare? In a much needed book, Martin Binder puts a novel discussion of these crucial issues on a firm behavioural and evolutionary footing." - Jack Vromen, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands