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Subjective utilitarianism: Individual decisions in a social context

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  • Alon, Shiri
  • Lehrer, Ehud

Abstract

Individual decisions are often subjectively affected by other-regarding considerations. We model a decision maker influenced by a grand group of significant others. Each sub-group of significant others is a possible social context, and the decision maker has different preferences in different social contexts. An axiomatic characterization of such preferences is offered. The characterized representation takes a simple subjective utilitarian form: (a) the decision maker ascribes to each significant other a utility function, representing the decision maker's subjective perception of this other person's tastes, and (b) in any specific social context the decision maker evaluates alternatives by adding together her or his own personal utility and the sum of all group members' utilities as subjectively perceived by the decision maker.

Suggested Citation

  • Alon, Shiri & Lehrer, Ehud, 2020. "Subjective utilitarianism: Individual decisions in a social context," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jetheo:v:190:y:2020:i:c:s0022053120301010
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2020.105108
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Other-regarding preferences; Subjective utilitarianism; Social context; Axiomatization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty

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