A utilitarian measure of economic growth

Arbeitspapier

A utilitarian measure of economic growth combines changes in the distribution of income with changes in real income per person to show how much better off people are becoming over time. It is the rate of growth of the dollar value of average utility of income. As such , it is seen differently by people with different utility of income functions. A growth rate in U.S. household income of 0.63% per year as ordinarily measured disappears altogether - is transformed into a decline of 0.086% per year - when the utility of income function is sufficiently concave. Strengths, weaknesses and implicit assumptions of the utilitarian measure are discussed.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Queen's Economics Department Working Paper ; No. 1356

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Price Level; Inflation; Deflation ; Business Fluctuations; Cycles ; Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity: General
• Subject: national income ; utilitarian ; certainty-equivalence

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Usher, Dan
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Queen's University, Department of Economics
• (where): Kingston (Ontario)
• (when): 2016

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/149082
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET