| |
Distribution
in economics is the way total output and income from it is
distributed among individuals and among factors of production
In general theory total output and total income are duals,
inseparably bound. So are they bound in their operational
counterparts, the national income and product accounts, which
represent that each unit of output corresponds to a unit of
income, whether expressed in real or nominal terms.
One use of national accounts is for describing 'income distribution'.
But, where focus is on income of persons or households, rather
than on returns to different factors of production in their
relation to total output, other data sources or adjustments
to the national accounts are frequently used.
In theoretical welfare economics,
a level of feasible output possibilities may be conveniently
distinguished from the distribution of income for those output
possibilities.
Both can describe elements of positive economics. But in the
formal theory of social welfare, rules for selection from
feasible distributions of income are a way of representing
pure normative economics at a high level of generality. |
|
