Dictionary
The Dictionary provides concise definitions of health economics terms, arranged alphabetically for quick reference. Use it to understand unfamiliar terminology or confirm the meaning of a specific term.
E
- Egalitarian Welfare
- A normative approach to social welfare giving priority to improving the position of the worst-off, rather than maximising the sum of welfare overall.
M
- Maximin Criterion
- A social welfare decision rule judging an allocation by the wellbeing of the worst-off group, seeking to maximise that minimum level.
R
- Rawlsian Welfare
- A conception of social welfare judging policies by their effect on the least advantaged, rather than the total or average welfare produced.
S
- Social Welfare
- The overall wellbeing of a society, treated as some aggregation of the wellbeing of its individual members under a specified welfare function.
- Social Welfare Function
- A mathematical representation of how individual wellbeing combines into overall social welfare, embodying explicit judgements about equality versus total welfare.
U
- Utilitarian Welfare
- A conception of social welfare judging policies by the sum, or average, of individual utility across the population, regardless of distribution.