Introduction

Economics is often divided into two schools: positive economics and welfare economics.The aim of the positive economics is to explain while the aim of the welfare economics is to suggest how to achieve higher levels of welfare for individuals, groups and nations. In practice there is very little distinction between the two. We want to know the laws of economics because we want to reach an economic goal. In any case both positive economics and welfare economics are concerned about welfare. However, what is welfare has not been a simple question to answer for any economist. Welfare has remained a controversial issue because welfare is somewhere related to values, i.e., to ideas of where we want to reach and the ideas of desired future. The ideas of desired future are the inseparable part of history of economic thought. Looked at from this perspective, values are inseparable from economics but when we talk of welfare economics we have an alternative economic design in mind which is based on values and not on the capitalist greed or self-interest. This lecture is devoted to discussion of these and related issues in value economics.