Welfare may refer to:
Philosophy
*
Well-being
Well-being is what is Intrinsic value (ethics), ultimately good for a person. Also called "welfare" and "quality of life", it is a measure of how well life is going for someone. It is a central goal of many individual and societal endeavors.
...
(happiness, prosperity, or flourishing) of a person or group
* Utility in
utilitarianism
In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for the affected individuals. In other words, utilitarian ideas encourage actions that lead to the ...
*
Value in
value theory
Value theory, also called ''axiology'', studies the nature, sources, and types of Value (ethics and social sciences), values. It is a branch of philosophy and an interdisciplinary field closely associated with social sciences such as economics, ...
Economics
*
Utility
In economics, utility is a measure of a certain person's satisfaction from a certain state of the world. Over time, the term has been used with at least two meanings.
* In a normative context, utility refers to a goal or objective that we wish ...
, a general term for individual well-being in economics and decision theory
**
Decision utilities, utilities as revealed by human behavior under the assumption of rationality
**
Economic surplus
In mainstream economics, economic surplus, also known as total welfare or total social welfare or Marshallian surplus (after Alfred Marshall), is either of two related quantities:
* Consumer surplus, or consumers' surplus, is the monetary gain ...
, the total economic benefit or
gains from trade
In economics, gains from trade are the net benefits to economic agents from being allowed an increase in voluntary trading with each other. In technical terms, they are the increase of consumer surplus plus producer surplus from lower tariffs ...
provided for society
*
Social welfare function
In welfare economics and social choice theory, a social welfare function—also called a social ordering, ranking, utility, or choice function—is a function that ranks a set of social states by their desirability. Each person's preferences ...
, a function that aggregates individual welfares to create an overall social welfare
**
Social choice theory
Social choice theory is a branch of welfare economics that extends the Decision theory, theory of rational choice to collective decision-making. Social choice studies the behavior of different mathematical procedures (social welfare function, soc ...
, the study of welfare aggregation
*
Welfare economics
Welfare economics is a field of economics that applies microeconomic techniques to evaluate the overall well-being (welfare) of a society.
The principles of welfare economics are often used to inform public economics, which focuses on the ...
, the study of social well-being
Government-run public aid
*
Welfare spending
Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...
, government intervention meant to provide a minimal level of well-being and social support for all citizens
*
Welfare state
A welfare state is a form of government in which the State (polity), state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal oppor ...
, the concept of a government playing a key role in individual economic and social well-being
Other uses
*
''Welfare'' (film), a 1975 film by Frederick Wiseman
*
HMS ''Welfare'', the name of two ships of the Royal Navy, and one planned ship
See also
*
Animal welfare
Animal welfare is the quality of life and overall well-being of animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures ...
, the quality of life or well-being of animals
*
Corporate welfare
Corporate welfare refers to government financial assistance, Subsidy, subsidies, tax breaks, or other favorable policies provided to private businesses or specific industries, ostensibly to promote economic growth, job creation, or other public b ...
, term describing the bestowal of benefits upon corporations by government
*
Welfare fraud, intentional misuse of welfare programs by providing false information
*
Welfare queen
"Welfare queen" is a derogatory term used in the United States to describe individuals who are perceived to misuse or abuse the welfare system, often through fraudulent means, child endangerment, or manipulation. The media's coverage of welfar ...
, a pejorative term for a person accused of collecting excess welfare payments
{{disambiguation