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The Pareto‐Scorza Polemic on Collective Economic Welfare
Author(s) -
McLure Michael
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
australian economic papers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.351
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 1467-8454
pISSN - 0004-900X
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8454.00096
Subject(s) - pareto principle , proposition , welfare , economics , competition (biology) , pareto optimal , pareto efficiency , economic welfare , work (physics) , point (geometry) , microeconomics , welfare economics , mathematical economics , neoclassical economics , computer science , set (abstract data type) , mathematics , operations management , engineering , market economy , philosophy , mechanical engineering , ecology , geometry , epistemology , biology , programming language
This paper reviews the 1902–03 polemic between Vilfredo Pareto and Gaetano Scorza, an Italian mathematician, on the validity of what is now referred to as the first law of welfare economics – i.e. the proposition that a point of equilibrium determined under conditions of free competition is Pareto optimal. It establishes that, contrary to the received view, Pareto did not write at cross‐purposes to Scorza and his work published after the polemic does not suggest that Pareto eventually sided with Scorza on the issue of collective economic welfare.