If the entire adult population of Westeros was knighted, and had all the rights and responsibilities of knights, would their overall welfare improve?

Welfare is a bit of a tricky word to use – ultimately, knighthood is a mark of legal status. In Westeros, it means that you have the right to trial by combat, so you’re not completely at the mercy of a local lord’s right of pits and gallows.

So if the entire adult population of Westeros was knighted, what you’re really doing is removing a major source of inequality when it comes to civil rights and legal personhood, not so much their economic or social welfare necessarily.

Largely because 90% of the population of Westeros probably could not afford to actually fulfill the responsibilities of knights – arms, armor, horses, training, are way beyond the means of your average peasant.