首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
In the preceding chapter, economic welfare was taken broadly to consist of that group of satisfactions and dissatisfactions whic
In the preceding chapter, economic welfare was taken broadly to consist of that group of satisfactions and dissatisfactions whic
admin
2006-06-06
72
问题
In the preceding chapter, economic welfare was taken broadly to consist of that group of satisfactions and dissatisfactions which can be brought into relation with a money measure. We have now to observe that this relation is not a direct one, but is mediated through desires and aversions. That is to say, the money that a person is prepared to offer for a thing measures directly, not the satisfaction he will get from the thing, but-the intensity of his desire for it. This distinction, obvious when stated, has been somewhat obscured for English-speaking students by the employment of the term utility - which naturally carries an association with satisfaction - to represent intensity of desire. Thus, when one thing is desired by a person more keenly than another, it is said to possess a greater utility to that person. Several writers have endeavored to get rid of the confusion which this use of words generates by substituting "utility" in the above sense for some other term, such as "desirability". The term "desiredness" seems, however, to be preferable, because, since it cannot be taken to have any ethical implication, it is less ambiguous. I shall myself employ that term.
Generally speaking, everybody prefers present pleasures or satisfactions of given magnitude to future pleasures or satisfactions of equal magnitude, even when the latter are perfectly certain to occur. But this preference for present pleasures does not - the idea is self-contradictory - imply that a present pleasure of given magnitude is any greater than a future pleasure of the same magnitude. It implies only that our telescopic faculty is defective, and that we, therefore, see future pleasures, as it were, on a diminished scale. That this is the right explanation is proved by the fact that exactly the same diminution is experienced when, apart from our tendency to forget ungratifying incidents, we contemplate the past.
Our analysis also suggests that economic welfare could be increased by some rightly chosen degree of differentiation in favor of saving. Nobody, of course, holds that the State should force its citizens to act as though so much objective wealth now and in the future were of exactly equal importance. In view of the uncertainty of productive developments, to say nothing of the mortality of nations and eventually of the human race itself, this would not, even in the extremest theory, be sound policy. But there is wide agreement that the State should protect the interests of the future in some degree against the effects of our irrational discounting and of our preference for ourselves over our descendants. The whole movement for "conservation" in the United States is based on this conviction.
It is the clear duty of Government, which is the trustee for unborn generations as well as for its present citizens, to watch over, and, if need be, by legislative enactment, to defend, the exhaustible natural resources of the country from rash and reckless spoliation.
Plainly, if we assume adequate competence on the part of governments, there is a valid case for some artificial encouragement to investment, particularly to investments the return from which will only begin to appear after the lapse of many years. It must, however, be remembered that, so long as people are left free to decide for themselves how much work they will do, interference, by fiscal or any other means , with the way they employ the resources that their work yields to them may react to diminish the aggregate amount of this work and so of those resources.
In the third paragraph, which of the following is closer to the truth?
选项
A、The author rejects the idea the aid distributed by the government should benefit the less fortunate individuals.
B、Any given government is answerable for preserving and protecting the economic interests of new generations.
C、Mankind is intrinsically doomed and will be extinct in the near future regardless of the actions taken by any government.
D、People have opposing views over state intervention in the field of socio-economic policy.
答案
B
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/EDIO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
Readthisarticlebelowabouttheimportanceofcorporatepublicrelations.Choosethebestanswerfromtheoppositepageto
CORPORATIONS
Lookatthenotesbelow.Someinformationismissing.YouwillhearajournalisttalkingtotheHeadofPublicRelationsofala
Lookatthenotesbelow.Someinformationismissing.YouwillhearajournalisttalkingtotheHeadofPublicRelationsofala
Whatdoesthewomansuggestfornon-drinkers?
Thesafetyteamiscarryingoutchecksinthisarea.Accesswithoutapermitisdenieduntilfurthernotice.
TheAustrianmanufacturingindustryconsistsofafewlargeorganizations,manyofwhichoperateundergovernmentauspices.
YoungJohnshowednoconsistencywhenhedidexcellentworkthefirstpartoftheyearandverypoorworkafterthat.
Theeconomicforceswhichmayaffectthenewpublicofferingofstockincludesuddendownturnsinthemarket,hedgingandother
Thisproblemshouldbediscussedfirst,forittakes______overalltheotherissues.
随机试题
A.风湿在表之痹证B.下焦虚寒之膏淋C.脾虚湿盛,气滞水泛之皮水证D.痹证日久,肝肾两虚,气血不足证羌活胜湿汤的主治是
A.子宫体B.子宫下段C.子宫颈D.子宫收缩力E.肛提肌临产后成为子宫下段一部分的是
下列不属于非细胞毒性类抗肿瘤药是
一台三相异步电动机的机械特性如图所示,其额定工作点A的参数为:nN=1430r/min,TN=67N.m。若负载转矩为98N.m,则带此负载()。
施工企业应缴纳的城市维护建设税的计税依据为()。
【背景资料】某框剪结构办公楼,建筑面积16790m2,地下1层,地上10层,预制桩筏板基础。剪力墙混凝土设计强度为C40,地下防水设计采用卷材防水和混凝土自防水相结合的方案,地下室无后浇带,地下室隔墙采用砖砌体,基坑边坡按1:1放坡。桩基础和卷材防水由总承
商业银行资产的流动性是指()。
采用邻接表存储的图的深度优先遍历算法类似于树的(22),用邻接表存储的图的广度优先遍历算法类似于树的(23),判断有向图是否存在回路,除了可以利用拓扑排序方法外,还可以利用(24)。
ForCressidaitwasspirituallylikesomepaganvegetationriteofregenerationandrenewal.Inthesunburntpepper-and-saltof
Nooneknowsexactlyhowmanydisabledpeoplethereareintheworld,but【C1】______suggestthefigureisover450million.Then
最新回复
(
0
)