It might be such a transfer.  My point is that we can't assume that it goes the other way either, a priori. Economically, the outcome could be either, and there's not even much reason to think that one way is any more probable than the other without actual empirical evidence to show the direction of welfare effects occurred.  That's what welfare economics is all about, anyway -- that you can't assume you know the real winners and losers without defining your categories well and looking at the actual evidence.