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The News of the Death of Welfare Economics is Greatly Exaggerated

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Author Info
Marc Fleurbaey (CATT - IDEP -)
Philippe Mongin (LEEP - Laboratoire d'econometrie de l'école polytechnique - CNRS : UMR7657 - Polytechnique - X)

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Abstract

Après qu'Arrow eut démontré son théorème d'impossibilité, les "fonctions de bien-être social de Bergson-Samuelson" (FBS) firent l'objet d'une controverse qui opposa les théoriciens du choix social aux économistes du bien-être. Une version nouvelle du théorème parue dans les années 1970 visait à établir que les FBS "ou bien font des comparaisons d'utilité interpersonnelle, ou bien sont dictatoriales". Refusant cette conclusion, Samuelson réaffirma l'existence de FBS "ordinalistes" et, cependant, non-dictatoriales; plus généralement, il nia la pertinence des résultats arroviens pour l'économie du bien-être. L'article formalise et réévalue les arguments avancés de chaque côté. Bien qu'il critique également ceux de Samuelson, il approuve sa conclusion, voulant que l'économie du bien-être soit sortie indemne de la controverse. L'article propose de rapprocher les FBS de certaines constructions de l'économie normative contemporaine.

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Date of creation: 2004
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Keywords: Economie du bien-être; Théorie du choix social; Fonction de bien-être social de Bergson-Samuelson; Fonctionnelle de bien-être social; Arrow; Bergson; Samuelson;

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Sen, Amartya K, 1977. "On Weights and Measures: Informational Constraints in Social Welfare Analysis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 45(7), pages 1539-72, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Kemp, Murray C & Ng, Yew-Kwang, 1977. "More on Social Welfare Functions: The Incompatibility of Individualism and Ordinalism," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 44(173), pages 89-90, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. P. Mongin, 1999. "Normes et jugements de valeur en économie normative," THEMA Working Papers 99-20, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    Other versions:
  4. Gravel, Nicolas, 1994. "On the Difficulty of Combining Actual and Potential Criteria for an Increase in Social Welfare," Discussion Papers (IRES - Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales) 1994009, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
  5. Weymark, John A., 1998. "Welfarism on economic domains1," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 251-268, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Mayston, David J., 1982. "The generation of a social welfare function under ordinal preferences," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 109-129, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Blackorby, C. & Donaldson, D. & Weymark, J.A., 1990. "A Welfarist Proof Of Arrow'S Theorem," UBC Departmental Archives 90-16, UBC Department of Economics.
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  8. Pollak, Robert A, 1979. "Bergson-Samuelson Social Welfare Functions and the Theory of Social Choice," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 93(1), pages 73-90, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. 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. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Marc Fleurbaey & Francois Maniquet, 2002. "Fair Income Tax," Economics Working Papers 0021, Institute for Advanced Study, School of Social Science. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Suzumura Kotaro, 1998. "Paretian Welfare Judgements and Bergsonian Social Choice," Discussion Paper Series a341, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
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  12. Pazner, Elisha A & Schmeidler, David, 1978. "Egalitarian Equivalent Allocations: A New Concept of Economic Equity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 92(4), pages 671-87, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. P. Mongin, 1998. "Does optimization imply rationality ?," THEMA Working Papers 98-17, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
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  14. Kemp, Murray C. & Ng, Yew-Kwang, 1982. "The incompatibility of individualism and ordinalism," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 33-37, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. M. Fleurbaey & F. Maniquet, 2008. "Fair social orderings," Economic Theory, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 25-45, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Atkinson, Anthony B, 2001. "The Strange Disappearance of Welfare Economics," Kyklos, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 54(2-3), pages 193-206.
  17. Georges Bordes & Peter J. Hammond & Michel Le Breton, 2005. "Social Welfare Functionals on Restricted Domains and in Economic Environments," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 7(1), pages 1-25, 02. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  18. I. M. D. Little, 1952. "Social Choice and Individual Values," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 60, pages 422. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Sen, Amartya K, 1971. "Choice Functions and Revealed Preference," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 38(115), pages 307-17, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. MARC FLEURBAEY & FRANÇOIS MANIQUET, 2007. "Help the Low Skilled or Let the Hardworking Thrive? A Study of Fairness in Optimal Income Taxation," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 9(3), pages 467-500, 06. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Kemp, Murray C. & Ng, Yew-Kwang, 1983. "Individualistic social welfare functions under ordinalism: a reply to Mayston," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 305-307, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Suzumura, Kotaro, 2001. "Pareto principles from Inch to Ell," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 95-98, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Le Breton, M. & Weymark, J.A., 1991. "An Introduction to Arrovian Social Welfare Functions on Economic and Political Domains," UBC Departmental Archives 91-28, UBC Department of Economics.
  24. Parks, Robert P, 1976. "An Impossibility Theorem for Fixed Preferences: A Dictatorial Bergson-Samuelson Welfare Function," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(3), pages 447-50, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  25. Blackorby, Charles & Donaldson, David & Weymark, John A, 1984. "Social Choice with Interpersonal Utility Comparisons: A Diagrammatic Introduction," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 25(2), pages 327-56, June.
  26. Marc Fleurbaey, 2003. "On the informational basis of social choice," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 347-384, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  27. P. Mongin, 2000. "Is there progress in normative economics ?," THEMA Working Papers 2000-37, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise. [Downloadable!]
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Marc Fleurbaey, 2007. "Social choice and the indexing dilemma," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 633-648, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Mongin, Philippe, 2006. "Normes et jugements de valeur en économie normative," Les Cahiers de Recherche 858, HEC Paris. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Marc Fleurbaey, 2004. "Two Criteria for Social Decisions," Economics Papers 2004-W27, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford. [Downloadable!]
  4. Marc Fleurbaey, 2006. "Health, equity and social welfare," Annales d'Economie et de Statistique, ADRES, issue 83-84, pages 02, Juillet-D. [Downloadable!]
  5. 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. [Downloadable!]
  6. Roberto Serrano & Allan M. Feldman, 2007. "Arrow’S Impossibility Theorem: Preference Diversity In A Single-Profile World," Working Papers wp2007_0710, CEMFI. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. 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. [Downloadable!]
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