Why is there no change in the social welfare indicators, or only a very small change?
There are a couple of reasons why the social welfare impact of a purchase may be small. For wealthy countries for example, it takes a much larger purchase to impact the social welfare of its population. Often, above a certain GDP, the purchase will make no change whatsoever, and increases to social welfare will be more affected by government policy etc. Clearly, the size of the social benefit is also proportional to the size of the purchase. If the purchase is of a modest size, the social benefits will also be modest.
