ABSTRACT

As soon as we extend our gaze toward other people, richer than us, and let their incomes influence our own welfare, too, we move from concern with poverty alone to concern with inequality as well. . . . In reality, people are much more likely to think about and be concerned with those who have more than they than with those who have less. In other words, it is “envy” that is much more likely to enter our welfare function than “concern.”