Welfare Economics Beyond Welfarist-Consequentialism

Capitalizing on the recent work in social choice theory, we re-examine the foundations of post-Pigovian welfare economics and social choice theory. The structure of the "old" and "new" welfare economics is critically scrutinized, and the culprit of the poverty of welfare economics as well as Arrovian social choice theory is boiled down to their common information basis to be called the welfarist-consequentialism. Alternative avenues one may try out to escape from the poverty of normative economics are identified and examined, which are focused on interpersonal comparisons of welfare levels, preference for opportunities, and procedural fairness of social choice, respectively.