Abstract

RIVEROS-GAVILANES, John Michael. Estimating Amartya Sen's Social Welfare Function for Latin America. Ens. Econ. [online]. 2021, vol.31, n.59, pp.13-40.  Epub Dec 23, 2021. ISSN 0121-117X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/ede.v31n59.88235.

This article carries out a series of empiric approximations of the theoretical formula for Sen's (1974) social welfare function, applied to the Latin American context between 1985 and 2018 to establish social welfare tendencies in the period analyzed. The estimates involve Sen's original formula and its generalized version proposed by Mukhopadhaya (2003a; 2003b). The article contributes - likewise- to the exploration of the long-term relations between welfare, inequality and income through a co-integration analysis of panel data.

The results point to the existence of long-term relationships between these variables, a slightly greater elasticity for social welfare when based on income distribution than when based on economic growth, while in the short-term social welfare is only explained through the latter. Finally, positioning for Latin American countries is established through their levels of social welfare. Forecasts made with the proposed econometric model coincide - in terms of behavior and comparative social welfare position among the countries listed - with the estimate from the original Sen approach applied to Latin America.

JEL: D63; E25; O54; O57.

Keywords : social welfare; inequality; growth; income; Latin America.

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