Morality and welfare

The economic theory of utility does not take into account moral behaviour, that is behaviour in which an individual faced with two courses of action may choose the one which is less profitable to him. It is shown in this paper that the economic approach can be broadened to take such behaviour into account. The individual is considered to maximize a higher welfare function whose arguments are (a) his utility and (b) higher goods or moral value. The latter are goals which he ought to achieve. The amount of higher goods achieved depends upon his moral preference. The ranking of different acts is complete - an assumption commonly made in economics with regard to bundles of goods. In an extension of the economic model of optimization over time, the individual is considered to maximize his higher welfare over his lifetime. This may require raising his moral preference.