Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“A ‘Pareto improvement’ (named for the 19th-century polymath Vilfredo Pareto) is a useful idea from economics: It is change that makes at least one party better off without making anyone worse off — because different people have different preferences and priorities, it is possible to reallocate goods in a way that is not zero-sum. … Being able to spot a Pareto opportunity is also a big part of how political negotiation works — at least it was back when negotiation and compromise were what politicians normally did with their time instead of being part-time pundits and full-time social-media trolls. Donald Trump likes to present himself as the great deal-maker …. but he is not very good at it …. he cannot calculate the trade-offs, because he lacks two pieces of information critical to any negotiation: He doesn’t understand what the other guy wants, and he doesn’t know what he wants.” (12/12/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/pareto-improvement-punishment-trump-economics/