Net good

Overview

Net good refers to a best estimation of the overall total benefit to society (or to any subset thereof whose interests are being considered) of a particular thing. It is almost never possible to assign any kind of numeric value to this concept; the best which can usually be done is to decide whether the net good is positive – thus making the outcome desirable or good – or negative, thus making the outcome undesirable or bad.

It is also reasonable to discuss the relative net good of each of several different possible choices.