RG

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Welfare economics

KEY THINKER

Kenneth Arrow (1921–)

BEFORE

1770 French mathematician Jean-Charles de Borda devises a preferential voting system.

1780s English philosopher and social reformer Jeremy Bentham proposes a system of utilitarianism—aiming for the greatest happiness of the greatest number.

1785 Nicolas de Condorcet publishes Essay on the Application of Analysis to the Probability of Majority Decisions, in which he sets out the original voting paradox.

AFTER

1998 Indian economist Amartya Sen is awarded the Nobel Prize for his work on welfare economics and social choice theory.

At a first glance, the mathematics of voting may seem ...

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