Social choice and welfare economics under representative government

In his Impossibility Theorem, Arrow demonstrated logically that certain a priori conditions cannot all be satisfied by a rule of social choice. Those conditions, however, are admittedly value judgments, and how ethically impelling they are remains in dispute. To appraise that matter, the theorem is properly seen in a political context, and Arrow himself has seen it so, but he focuses in effect on ‘direct democracy.’ Further clarification may result from reference instead to different forms of ‘representative government.’ The same inquiry may also illuminate another still controversial matter: the import of the theorem for welfare economics.