Kaldor-Hicks compensation

Two economists, Nicholas Kaldor (1939) and John Hicks (1940), authored the Kaldor-Hicks compensation principle (also known as Kaldor-Hicks criterion), which is a measure of economic efficiency. 

According to the Kaldor-Hicks compensation principle, an outcome is more efficient if those that are made better off could (in theory) compensate those that are made worse off. However, the Kaldor-Hicks compensation principle does not require the compensation to actually be paid, just that the possibility exists [18]. 

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