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Are Most People Consequentialists?

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  • Johansson-Stenman, Olof

    (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University)

Abstract

Welfare economics relies on consequentialism. Whether a public action is good or bad is then determined by the consequences for people, rather than for example by the extent to which it infringes on others’ rights. Yet, many philosophers have questioned this assumption. The present note presents new survey evidence where a representative sample in Sweden are asked about their ethical perceptions with respect to what matters intrinsically. Overall, people’s perceptions are largely consistent with consequentialism.

Suggested Citation

  • Johansson-Stenman, Olof, 2010. "Are Most People Consequentialists?," Working Papers in Economics 467, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0467
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2077/23246
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Neal Hockley, 2014. "Cost–Benefit Analysis: A Decision-Support Tool or a Venue for Contesting Ecosystem Knowledge?," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 32(2), pages 283-300, April.
    2. Mitesh Kataria & M. Levati & Matthias Uhl, 2014. "Paternalism with hindsight: do protégés react consequentialistically to paternalism?," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 43(3), pages 731-746, October.
    3. Sophie Harnay & Elisabeth Tovar, 2017. "Obeying vs. resisting unfair laws. A structural analysis of the internalization of collective preferences on redistribution using classification trees and random forests," EconomiX Working Papers 2017-34, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.
    4. Ulrich J Frey & Frauke Pirscher, 2018. "Willingness to pay and moral stance: The case of farm animal welfare in Germany," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(8), pages 1-20, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    ethics; rights; consequentialism; social cost-benefit analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
    • D70 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - General
    • Q50 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - General

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