MULTIDIMENSIONAL INEQUALITY AND SOCIAL WELFARE

Abstract

This paper provides a cardinal welfare measure for the allocation of a bundle of goods among a group of people. Social welfare is measured as the sum of n partial indices, one for each good, each of which consists of a function of the amount of the good availabe and its dispersion, measured by Theil's first inequality index. Some applications of this welfare measure are also suggested.Inequality and Welfare; Social Goods; Cardinal Welfare Measures.