On the Curvature Properties of “Long” Social Welfare Functions

Abstract

This study characterizes the concavity properties of the Jorgenson and Slesnick’s social welfare function that is likely the most empirically relevant function among the family of “long” welfare functions. We bridge this knowledge gap using the definition of generalized concavity to show the conditions necessary for the long social welfare function of interest to be decreasing and quasi-convex with respect to prices. Thanks to this result, “long” social welfare functions with regular curvature can be suitable for applied social welfare analysis and policy evaluations.