Romanow, Zbigniew2017-12-112017-12-111972Ruch Prawniczy, Ekonomiczny i Socjologiczny 34, 1972, z. 3, s. 69-820035-9629http://hdl.handle.net/10593/20755The representatives of the so called "new" welfare economics made an attempt to find a criterion for estimating economic welfare that would make possible to avoid controversial problems of interpersonal comparisons of utility. They tried to approach economic welfare in the categories of a total amount of utility for individuals (N. Kaldor, M. W. Reder, J. R. Hicks, T. Scitowsky). The conception of new welfare economics was criticised. The principle of compensation which is a questionable attempt of avoiding the problem of interpersonal comparisons of loss and profit was found dispensable in the analysis of economic welfare (J. M. D. Little). On the other hand standards of value, which are the basis of forming economic optimum and depend on a preference scale fixed by the state, give no guaranty of the most proper choice and do not reflect individual preferences fully (R. J. Arrow). The new welfare economics was also blamed for restricting the problems to static conditions only (J. de V. Graaff). Difficulties in finding the optimum and scepticism about the conception of new welfare economics made some economists look for a mechanism securing accomplishment of economic welfare in the conditions of partly socialized means of production and controlled economy. One of them is A. Lemer, whose program is reformatic and restricts the assumptions of economic welfare to institutional changes within the scape of capitalistic production relations. O. Lange cosiders the possible division of the available resources and their optimum utilization in the socialist economy that takes advantage of autonomous top-level decisions of nation-wide significance as well as the market mechanism. O. Lange's skeleton mechanism of social economy operation, which permits of the application of the justified ideals of the welfare economics, was criticised by the liberals (F. Hayek, L. Robbins, W. Beveridge, D. Wright and others). They objected to the alleged underutilization of market mechanism in Lange's model, to arbitrarily by the central government's organ determined purposes and to administratively irrational pursuit of socio-economic goals. The conception of a welfare state was created in the Western countries in the years 1950 s. It reflected the tendency of a burgeois state to apply the ideals of welfare economics within the scope of the socio-economic and social policy of the Keynesists. The program with help of an increased state intervention was tending to replace the previous state philantropy by activities striving to form socio-economic and social processes and to strengthen the role of the parliament and public control of economic activities of the monopolies in particular. The interrelation of the state and monopolies and the restricted role of the parliament caused a confinement of the welfare state program to some concessions for the benefit of the working peoples. The confinements are due to the prevailing production relations and not, as the burgeois economists say, to the growing expenses on the revolution in science and technics and to thus limited financial means of the state.polinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessArtykuł