Abstract
The French term ‘altruisme’ was introduced by Auguste Comte (1830–42) to signify devotion to the welfare of others, especially as a principle of action. It is closely related to concepts such as benevolence and unselfishness. It has long attracted the interest of moral philosophers (see e.g. Nagel 1970; Milo 1973; Roberts 1973; Collard 1978; Margolis 1982). Rescher (1975, p. 11) categorizes it as one of the ‘modalities’ of unselfishness. Numerous social scientists in many fields, including sociobiology, have been interested in altruistic behaviour as helping to assure species and gene survival (Becker 1976; Collard 1978, ch. 5). While some economists have participated in such research, more have naturally concentrated upon the implications of altruism for economic outcomes–in particular, the allocation of resources and the distribution of income.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Arrow, K.J. 1974. Gifts and exchanges. Philosophy and Public Affairs 1: 343–362. reprinted as pp. 13–28 of Phelps (1975).
Arrow, K.J. 1981. Optimal and voluntary income distribution. In Economic welfare and the economics of soviet socialism: Essays in honour of Abram Bergson, ed. S. Rosefield, 267–288. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. reprinted as ch. 15 of Collected Papers of Kenneth J. Arrow, Vol. 1: Social choice and justice. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.
Barro, R. 1974. Are government bonds net wealth? Journal of Political Economy 82: 1095–1117.
Barry, B.M. 1965. Political argument. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Becker, G.S. 1974. A theory of social interactions. Journal of Political Economy 82: 1063–1091.
Becker, G.S. 1976. Altruism, egoism and genetic fitness: Economics and sociobiology. Journal of Economic Literature 14: 817–826.
Becker, G.S. 1981. Altruism in the family and selfishness in the market place. Economica 48: 1–16.
Bergstrom, T.C. 1970. A ‘Scandinavian consensus’ solution for efficient income distribution among nonmalevolent consumers. Journal of Economic Theory 2: 383–398.
Bergstrom, T.C., and H.R. Varian. 1985. When are Nash equilibria independent of the distribution of agents’ characteristics? Review of Economic Studies 52: 715–718.
Bergstrom, T.C., L. Blume, and H.R. Varian. 1986. On the private provision of public goods. Journal of Public Economics 29: 25–49.
Bernheim, B.D., and Bagwell, K. 1985. Is everything neutral? Mimeo, Stanford University; forthcoming in the Journal of Political Economy.
Bliss, C.J., and B. Nalebuff. 1984. Dragon-slaying and ballroom dancing: The private supply of a public good. Journal of Public Economics 25: 1–12.
Boulding, K.E. 1973. The economy of love and fear: A preface to grants economics. Belmont: Wadsworth.
Collard, D.A. 1978. Altruism and economy: A study in non-selfish economics. Oxford/New York: Martin Robertson/Oxford University Press.
Comte, A. 1830–42. Cours de philosophie positive, 6 vols. Paris: Bachelier.
Hammond, P.J. 1975. Charity: Altruism or cooperative egoism? In Phelps (1975), 115–131.
Hirshleifer, J. 1977. Shakespeare vs. Becker on altruism: The importance of having the last word. Journal of Economic Literature 15: 500–502.
Hochman, H.M., and J.D. Rodgers. 1969. Pareto optimal redistribution. American Economic Review 59: 542–557.
Kolm, S.-C. 1969. The optimal production of social justice. In Public economics, ed. J. Margolis and H. Guitton, 145–200. London: Macmillan.
Kurz, M. 1977. Altruistic equilibrium. In Economic progress, private values, and public policy: Essays in honor of William Fellner, ed. B. Balassa and R. Nelson, 177–200. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Kurz, M. 1978. Altruism as an outcome of social interaction. American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings 68: 216–228.
Margolis, H. 1982. Selfishness, altruism, and rationality: A theory of social choice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Milo, R.D. (ed.). 1973. Egoism and altruism. Belmont: Wadsworth.
Nagel, T. 1970. The possibility of altruism. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Nakayama, M. 1980. Nash equilibria and Pareto optimal income redistribution. Econometrica 48: 1257–1263.
Phelps, E.S. (ed.). 1975. Altruism, morality and economic theory. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Rescher, N. 1975. Unselfishness: The role of the vicarious affects in moral philosophy and social theory. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Roberts, T.A. 1973. The concept of benevolence: Aspects of eighteenth-century moral philosophy. London: Macmillan.
Sugden, R. 1982. On the economics of philanthropy. Economic Journal 92: 341–350.
Sugden, R. 1983. Who cares? An economic and ethical analysis of private charity and the welfare state. London: Institute of Economic Affairs.
Sugden, R. 1984. Reciprocity: The supply of public goods through voluntary contribution. Economic Journal 94: 772–787.
Sugden, R. 1985. Consistent conjectures and voluntary contributions to public goods: Why the conventional theory does not work. Journal of Public Economics 27: 117–124.
Warr, P. 1982. Pareto optimal redistribution and private charity. Journal of Public Economics 19: 131–138.
Warr, P. 1983. The private provision of a public good is independent of the distribution of income. Economics Letters 13: 207–211.
Winter, S.G. 1969. A simple remark on the second optimality theorem of welfare economics. Journal of Economic Theory 1: 99–103.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Hammond, P.J. (2018). Altruism. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_470
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_470
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95188-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95189-5
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences