@article{Hertzler:10386,
      recid = {10386},
      author = {Hertzler, Greg},
      title = {Measuring Social Welfare: A Dog's Hind Leg Possibility  Postulate},
      address = {2007},
      number = {418-2016-26480},
      series = {Conference Paper},
      pages = {19},
      year = {2007},
      abstract = {Our current methods of analysing policies and the  distributions of wealth insure that society is on an  efficient frontier. This is not the same as a social  optimum. To choose the optimal point on the frontier we  need a social welfare function. Following the ordinal  revolution in demand theory, a large body of research  concluded that social welfare functions don't exist. The  intensity of people's preferences cannot be observed and  hence interpersonal comparisons are essentially impossible.  This paper argues that the intensity of people's  preferences can be observed and could be incorporated into  a social welfare function.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/10386},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.10386},
}