如果福利经济学被定义为关于若干伦理判断经济含义的一系列命题,本文拟评论的四本书都是关于福利经济学的著作。作者中有些是当代第一流理论家,其中至少有一位对经济政策的拟订有广泛经验。因此,人们可合理地企望从这四本书中获得福利经济学最新和最可靠的材料。紧接着战后时期,曾是福利问题引起人们深切兴趣的时期。发表的大部分著作在形式上是非数学的,因而所有经济学家都能看懂。这个时期的结束, If welfare economics is defined as a series of propositions about the economic implications of several ethical judgments, the four books to be reviewed in this article are books on welfare economics. Some of the authors are first-rate contemporary theorists, of whom at least one has extensive experience in the formulation of economic policies. Therefore, one can reasonably expect to get the latest and most reliable material in welfare economics from these four books. Immediately after the war, it was a period of deep interest in the welfare issue. Much of the work published is formally non-mathematical and therefore accessible to all economists. The end of this period,