The measurement of welfare and well-being: the Leyden approach

Abstract

1 From economics to psychology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 General approaches to cardinal utility taken by economists . . . . . . . 6 3 Utility measurement based on verbal quali...ers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 3.1 The Leyden approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 3.2 The shape of the welfare function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 3.3 The de...nition of income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 4 The explanation of the welfare function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 5 Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 6 Methodological discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 6.1 Individual norms and general standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 7 Future directions: well-being and welfare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 8 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35