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Bergson-Samuelson Social Welfare Functions and the Theory of Social Choice

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  • Robert A. Pollak

Abstract

I. Introduction, 73.—II. A difficulty in the single profile social preference ordering approach, 75.—III. Pareto-extension rules, 81.—IV. A set of necessary and sufficient conditions for simple majority decision, 83.—V. Conclusion, 85.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert A. Pollak, 1979. "Bergson-Samuelson Social Welfare Functions and the Theory of Social Choice," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 93(1), pages 73-90.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:qjecon:v:93:y:1979:i:1:p:73-90.
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. I. M. D. Little, 1952. "Social Choice and Individual Values," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 60, pages 422-422.
    2. John C. Harsanyi, 1953. "Cardinal Utility in Welfare Economics and in the Theory of Risk-taking," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61, pages 434-434.
    3. Sen, Amartya K, 1977. "Social Choice Theory: A Re-examination," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 45(1), pages 53-89, January.
    4. Samuelson, Paul A, 1977. "Reaffirming the Existence of "Reasonable" Bergson-Samuelson Social Welfare Functions," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 44(173), pages 81-88, February.
    5. Kemp, Murray C & Ng, Yew-Kwang, 1976. "On the Existence of Social Welfare Functions, Social Orderings and Social Decision Functions," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 43(169), pages 59-66, February.
    6. John C. Harsanyi, 1955. "Cardinal Welfare, Individualistic Ethics, and Interpersonal Comparisons of Utility," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 63, pages 309-309.
    7. Robert P. Parks, 1976. "An Impossibility Theorem for Fixed Preferences: A Dictatorial Bergson-Samuelson Welfare Function," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 43(3), pages 447-450.
    8. Hansson, Bengt, 1969. "Group Preferences," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 37(1), pages 50-54, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. John A. Weymark, 2011. "On Kolm’s Use of Epistemic Counterfactuals in Social Choice Theory," Studies in Choice and Welfare, in: Marc Fleurbaey & Maurice Salles & John A. Weymark (ed.), Social Ethics and Normative Economics, pages 279-301, Springer.
    2. Allan M Feldman & Roberto Serrano, 2007. "Arrow's Impossibility Theorem: Preference Diversity in a Single-Profile World," Working Papers 2007-12, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    3. Huiping Yuan & Stephen M. Miller & Langnan Chen, 2011. "The Optimality And Controllability Of Monetary Policy Through Delegation With Consistent Targets," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 58(1), pages 82-106, February.
    4. Cesar Calvo & Stefan Dercon, 2013. "Vulnerability to individual and aggregate poverty," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 41(4), pages 721-740, October.
    5. BOSSERT, Walter & SUZUMURA, Kotaro, 2009. "Decisive coalitions and coherence properties," Cahiers de recherche 2009-04, Universite de Montreal, Departement de sciences economiques.
    6. Marc Fleurbaey & Philippe Mongin, 2005. "The news of the death of welfare economics is greatly exaggerated," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 25(2), pages 381-418, December.
    7. El-Osta, Hisham S. & Morehart, Mitchell J., 2009. "Welfare Decomposition in the Context of the Life Cycle of Farm Operators: What Does a National Survey Reveal?," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 38(2), pages 1-17, October.
    8. Amavilah, Voxi Heinrich, 2016. "The 'Common Goood' in Pope Francis's Social Welfare Hypothesis," MPRA Paper 71760, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Huiping Yuan & Stephen M. Miller & Langnan Chen, 2011. "The Optimality And Controllability Of Monetary Policy Through Delegation With Consistent Targets," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 58(1), pages 82-106, February.
    10. Yew‐Kwang Ng, 1981. "Bentham or Nash? On the Acceptable Form of Social Welfare Functions," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 57(3), pages 238-250, September.
    11. Rubinstein, Ariel, 1998. "Definable preferences: An example1," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(3-5), pages 553-560, May.
    12. Huiping Yuan & Stephen M. Miller, 2006. "The Making of Optimal and Consistent Policy: An Implementation Theory Framework for Monetary Policy," Working papers 2006-06, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics, revised Jan 2009.
    13. Allan M. Feldman & Roberto Serrano, 2006. "Darwinian Arrow's Impossibility Theorem: Two Simple Single-Profile Versions," Working Papers 2006-11, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    14. d'Aspremont, Claude & Gevers, Louis, 2002. "Social welfare functionals and interpersonal comparability," Handbook of Social Choice and Welfare, in: K. J. Arrow & A. K. Sen & K. Suzumura (ed.), Handbook of Social Choice and Welfare, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 10, pages 459-541, Elsevier.
    15. Mohajan, Haradhan, 2011. "Social welfare and social choice in different individuals’ preferences," MPRA Paper 50851, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 19 Jun 2011.
    16. Yuan, Huiping & Miller, Stephen M., 2010. "Implementing optimal monetary policy: Objectives and rules," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 737-745, May.
    17. Allan M Feldman & Roberto Serrano, 2008. "Arrow's Impossibility Theorem: Preference Diversity in a Single-Profile World," Working Papers 2008-8, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    18. Dougherty, Keith L. & Heckelman, Jac C., 2020. "The probability of violating Arrow’s conditions," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    19. Allan M. Feldman & Roberto Serrano, 2007. "Arrow's impossibility theorem: Two simple single-profile versions," Working Papers 2007-07, Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados (IMDEA) Ciencias Sociales.
    20. Elizabeth Maggie Penn, 2015. "Arrow’s Theorem and its descendants," Chapters, in: Jac C. Heckelman & Nicholas R. Miller (ed.), Handbook of Social Choice and Voting, chapter 14, pages 237-262, Edward Elgar Publishing.

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