welfare

(noun)

Health, safety, happiness and prosperity; well-being in any respect.

Related Terms

Examples of welfare in the following topics:

  • Gains from Markets

    • Gains in a market are referred to as total welfare or economic surplus.
    • Gains within a market are referred to as total welfare or economic surplus.
    • Within total welfare, economists look at consumer surplus and producer surplus .
    • In order to calculate the total welfare, the supply and demand of the good must be used to determine the economic gain.
    • The total welfare (or economic surplus) is the sum of the consumer surplus and the producer surplus.

  • Why Governments Intervene In Markets

    • Another example of intervention to promote social welfare involves public goods.
    • Government often try, through taxation and welfare programs, to reallocate financial resources from the wealthy to those that are most in need.
    • Former President signing a welfare reform bill.
    • Welfare programs are one way governments intervene in markets.

  • Evaluating GDP as a Measure of the Economy

    • Gross domestic product (GDP) due to its relative ease of calculation and definition, has become a standard metric in the discussion of economic welfare, growth and prosperity.
    • "Economic welfare cannot be adequately measured unless the personal distribution of income is known.
    • The welfare of a nation can, therefore, scarcely be inferred from a measurement of national income. "
    • The sensitivities related to social welfare has continued the argument specific to the use of GDP as a economic growth or progress metric.
    • However, a qualitative assessment would likely value the latter country compared to the former on a welfare or quality of life basis .

  • Public Assistance

    • Public assistance, also referred to colloquially as welfare, is the provision of a minimal level of social support for all citizens.
    • Public assistance systems vary by country, but welfare is usually provided to individuals who are unemployed, those with an illness or disability, the elderly, those with dependent children, and veterans.
    • Each state has to meet certain criteria to ensure that individuals receiving public assistance are being encouraged to work themselves out of welfare.
    • Vouchers: are bonds given out by the government or other welfare organizations.

  • The Allocation Problem

    • The objective or goal of society is to maximize utility (welfare or wellbeing) of the members of society.
    • If the welfare of the community (US) is the sum of the individuals' utility we can be more specific: US = UA + UB + . . .
    • +UN "the welfare or utility of society is the sum of the utility obtained by each individual."
    • Since the utility or welfare of the community is a function of the welfare of the individuals and the utility of the individuals is a function of the goods they consume, the utility of the community is a function of the quantity of goods and services available: more is preferred to less.
    • The more goods and services available, the greater the welfare of society: US = f(QX +QY +. . .

  • Voluntary Exchange

    • In neoclassical economics, the objective of an economy is to increase the welfare or utility of the individuals who make up the society.
    • Any alternative that will improve the welfare or utility of at least one person without decreasing the welfare or utility of another person would increase the welfare of society.
    • Generally, a person would enter into a voluntary exchange if they can improve their welfare or increase their utility.
    • Therefore, any voluntary exchange will increase the welfare of one or both parties and neither will be any worse off.
    • Nor is it possible to assume that the utility or welfare of the group would be maximized by that distribution.

  • Mixed Economies

    • providing money and other resources segments of its populations, such as through a welfare program.
    • Most government intervention in mixed economy is limited to minimizing the negative consequences of economic events, such as unemployment in recessions, to promote social welfare.
    • However, the government in mixed economies generally subsidizes public goods, such as roads and libraries, and provide welfare services such as social security.

  • Economic objectives

    • The perceived objective is to maximize the utility or welfare of the members of society.
    • In a simplistic world, the welfare or utility of the community is the sum of the utilities or each member of that society.
    • Since it is not possible to measure utility, welfare or happiness, utility is connected to variables that can be measured.
    • Since utility can't be measured and is a function of the quantity of goods, an increase in the quantity of goods consumed is assumed to increase utility or welfare: more goods are preferred to fewer goods.

  • Social Insurance

    • Social insurance differs from welfare in that the beneficiary's contributions to the program are taken into account.
    • A welfare program pays recipients based on need, not contributions.
    • Medicare is an example of a social insurance program, while Medicaid is an example of a welfare one.

  • Costs of Trade

    • Restricted trade affects the welfare of society because although producers experience increases in surplus and additional revenue, the loss faced by consumers is greater than any benefit obtained .
    • When a country trades freely with the rest of the world, it should theoretically produce a net gain for society and increases social welfare.
    • This image shows what happens to societal welfare when free trade is not enacted.