Social externalities and economic analysis
Article dans une revue: This paper considers and assesses the concept of social externalities through human interdependence, in relation to the economic analysis of externalities in the tradition of Pigou and Arrow, including the analysis of the commons. It argues that there are limits to economic analysis. Our proposal is to enlarge the perspective and start thinking about a broader framework in which can be attached the "externality" label and be scrutinized for the likely negative consequences that result from the divergence. A tentative and probably incomplete list of possible internalizing mechanisms includes: pricing and monetary incentives; altruism and solidarity; moral norms; reciprocity and mutual monitoring; centralized cooperative decision-making; and merger. There are clear reasons why the pricing mechanism is not appropriate in some cases. A more difficult question to answer is what factors determine which of the mechanisms is the appropriate one to rely on in a given sphere of relations and activities. The object of the paper is to encourage research and contributions from all the relevant disciplines of social sciences about the pervasive human interdependence that the notion of social externalities tries to capture.
Auteur(s)
Marc Fleurbaey, Ravi Kanbur, Brody Viney
Revue
- Social Research: An International Quarterly
Date de publication
- 2021
Mots-clés JEL
Mots-clés
- Externalities
- Commons
- Human Interdpendence
- Social Externalities
- InternalizingMechanisms
- Ethical Principles
Pages
- 171-202
URL de la notice HAL
Version
- 1
Volume
- 88