Econometrica

Journal Of The Econometric Society

An International Society for the Advancement of Economic
Theory in its Relation to Statistics and Mathematics

Edited by: Guido W. Imbens • Print ISSN: 0012-9682 • Online ISSN: 1468-0262

Econometrica: Mar, 1980, Volume 48, Issue 2

Real National Income with Homothetic Preferences and a Fixed Distribution of Income

https://doi.org/0012-9682(198003)48:2<401:RNIWHP>2.0.CO;2-X
p. 401-422

James C. Moore, John S. Chipman

It was conjectured by Pigou that an increase in real national income, as reckoned in the prices of either the initial or the terminal period, would always correctly indicate an improvement in national welfare provided the increase referred to the aggregate income of a given group of persons with fixed preferences and a fixed proportional distribution of income among them. We show that if the individual preferences are assumed to be homothetic, and if by a welfare improvement one means respectively a potential improvement (in which losers can be compensated by gainers) or an actual improvement (in which all are gainers), then on either of these respective criteria Pigou's conjecture holds true under these conditions if and only if individual preferences are identical.


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