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Disentangling the welfarism/extra‐welfarism distinction: Towards a more fine‐grained categorization
Author(s) -
Sakowsky Ruben Andreas
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
health economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.55
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1099-1050
pISSN - 1057-9230
DOI - 10.1002/hec.4382
Subject(s) - welfarism , categorization , normative , positive economics , valuation (finance) , epistemology , economics , sociology , philosophy , welfare , market economy , finance
In health economics, the distinction between welfarism and extra‐welfarism has been employed to discuss various epistemological and normative differences between health evaluation approaches. However, a clear consensus on the definition of either welfarism, extra‐welfarism, or the differences between the two sets of approaches has not emerged. I propose an alternative set of distinctions that allows for a more fine‐grained categorization of health evaluation approaches. This categorization focuses on five dimensions: (1) the maximand of an evaluation approach, (2) its sensitivity toward normative concerns that defy compensation, (3) its position on which groups of individuals or collective entities act as sources of values, (4) its sensitivity to changes of mind, and (5) the inclusion of process‐external values.