Arthur Cecil Pigou
modernWelfare Economics1877 – 1959
Arthur Cecil Pigou (1877–1959) was a British economist and professor at Cambridge who founded the field of welfare economics. A student and successor of Alfred Marshall, he systematically analyzed the divergence between private and social costs, laying the groundwork for modern theories of externalities, public goods, and government intervention in markets.
Notable Achievements
1
Founded welfare economics with his landmark work The Economics of Welfare (1920)
2
Developed the concept of Pigouvian taxes to correct negative externalities
3
Formalized the distinction between private and social marginal cost
4
Introduced the 'Pigou effect' relating real wealth to aggregate demand
5
Established rigorous criteria for evaluating social welfare and market failures