First, on the general point of the welfare gains from trade: I'm basically with Dani Rodrik here.
The welfare gains are a measure of how much better off they are from this (in terms of increased consumption).
The resulting welfare gains are indicated by the profitability of both the operators and their customers, he suggests.
"Therefore the claims of massive welfare gains and losses from building industry regulatory changes are nonsense," he concluded.
Such a shift from taxation that reduces desirable employment to taxation that reduces undesirable pollution will lead to welfare gains.
The rising cost of looking after people across the rich world will only encourage further development.Such productivity advances should generate enormous welfare gains.
An opposing argument would be, however, that this welfare gain would be widely diffused, so that the individual beneficiaries might not be conscious of any great improvement.
As a result, taxes were far more desirable than permits, yielding $337 billion in global welfare gains versus only $69 billion for permits.
In an e-mailed response to a Times inquiry, Gindin wrote: The economist-speak of "net welfare gains" needs to be unpacked.
