Arthur Pigou

The State has a legitimate role in regulating markets to correct for market failures and to protect the public interest.

The pursuit of private profit does not always coincide with the maximization of social welfare.

The concept of 'economic efficiency' refers to the allocation of resources that maximizes the total output of goods and services.

The concept of 'social justice' refers to the fair and equitable distribution of income and wealth.

The State should strive to achieve both economic efficiency and social justice.

The 'Pigou-Dalton principle' states that a transfer of income from a richer person to a poorer person, without reversing their relative positions, increases social welfare.

The State should invest in education and healthcare, as these are public goods that generate positive externalities.

The problem of poverty is not merely a matter of individual failure; it is also a matter of structural inequalities in the economic system.

The State has a responsibility to provide a safety net for those who are unable to support themselves.

The ultimate goal of economic policy is to create a society in which all individuals have the opportunity to live a fulfilling life.

The divorce between the private and the social net product of an action is the root of the problem of externalities.

It is not sufficient that the things we want should exist; we must also want them.

Bad trade is a disease which only the cure of good trade can remove.

The error of neglecting the national loss in the shape of disutility of labour is a very common one.

Economics as a science is neutral between ends.

The ultimate object of economics is the production of the largest possible amount of human happiness.

In any state of society, the production of wealth, next to the characters of the individuals who compose it, is the most powerful influence on their happiness.

Externalities arise from the divergence between private and social costs.

The State should intervene to correct the failures of the market where social welfare demands it.

Happiness is the ultimate end and what we call goodness is nothing but that which promotes it.