As usual, the best definition depends of the term on the use you want to make of it.
From a social welfare standpoint, if the thief values the car as much as you did, and he doesn’t spend resources covering up his crime, and you don’t incur an expense in filing police reports etc., there is no social loss.
I wouldn’t want to, e.g., count the FTX blowup as an 8 billion dollar loss in making cost effectiveness analysis comparisons to something like GiveDirectly.
As usual, the best definition depends of the term on the use you want to make of it.
From a social welfare standpoint, if the thief values the car as much as you did, and he doesn’t spend resources covering up his crime, and you don’t incur an expense in filing police reports etc., there is no social loss.
I wouldn’t want to, e.g., count the FTX blowup as an 8 billion dollar loss in making cost effectiveness analysis comparisons to something like GiveDirectly.