Pareto optimality is a concept of efficiency promoted by Italian sociologist and economist Vilfredo Pareto. Also known as Pareto efficiency, it has been used in the social sciences such as economics and political science, as well as in moral philosophy and ethics.
Note that Pareto used the concept in his studies of economic efficiency and income distribution. This is the reason why it has been one of key concepts in macroeconomics, particularly in analyzing economic conditions and economic modeling.
Further Defining Pareto Optimality
The concept maintains that a situation or state of affairs is Pareto optimal or Pareto efficient if and only if there is no alternative situation or state that would make some parties better off without making anyone worse off.
In other words, Pareto optimality is a situation in which it is impossible to make someone or a collective of people better off without making another one or another collective of people worse off.
Almost everyone would agree that a society or institution should avoid situations that are not Pareto optimal or Pareto efficient. Thus, most people would agree to pursue an action if it could at least make one party better off without harming another party.
Application in Economics
When applied to economics, an economy is considered to be in a Pareto optimal state if no further changes or actions can make one person better off without making another worse off at the same time.
A Pareto optimal economy reaches a level or state of efficiency that if no one can be made better off by making someone else worse off. Hence, economists and government leaders have always strived to achieve this state.
Understanding and demonstrating the concept is important because it provides an accepted standard, albeit a weak one, for comparing outcomes. Hence, in economics and political science, Pareto optimality can be taken into consideration in developing and implementing policies.