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Prioritarian evaluation of well-being with an ordinal variable

Author

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  • Suman Seth

    (University of Leeds)

  • Gaston Yalonetzky

    (University of Leeds)

Abstract

Additive social evaluation measures have been proposed and are commonly used to assess well-being with an ordinal variable. In this paper, we derive appropriate functional-form restrictions allowing additive social evaluation measures for ordinal variables to provide dif- ferent degrees of priority to those relatively worse-off. To assess the robustness of societal well-being comparisons to alternative choices of distribution-sensitive measures, we propose tractable stochastic dominance conditions for different degrees of priority.

Suggested Citation

  • Suman Seth & Gaston Yalonetzky, 2020. "Prioritarian evaluation of well-being with an ordinal variable," Working Papers 531, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.
    • Handle: RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2020-531
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    File URL: http://www.ecineq.org/milano/WP/ECINEQ2020-531.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Nicolas Gravel & Thierry Marchant & Arunava Sen, 2011. "Comparing Societies with Different Numbers of Individuals on the Basis of Their Average Advantage," Studies in Choice and Welfare, in: Marc Fleurbaey & Maurice Salles & John A. Weymark (ed.), Social Ethics and Normative Economics, pages 261-277, Springer.
    2. Suman Seth & Gaston Yalonetzky, 2021. "Assessing Deprivation with an Ordinal Variable: Theory and Application to Sanitation Deprivation in Bangladesh," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 35(3), pages 793-811.
    3. Bénédicte Apouey & Jacques Silber & Yongsheng Xu, 2020. "On Inequality‐Sensitive and Additive Achievement Measures Based on Ordinal Data," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 66(2), pages 267-286, June.
    4. Nicolas Gravel & Brice Magdalou & Patrick Moyes, 2021. "Ranking distributions of an ordinal variable," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 71(1), pages 33-80, February.
    5. Sen, Amartya, 1997. "On Economic Inequality," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198292975.
    6. Marc Fleurbaey & Maurice Salles & John A. Weymark (ed.), 2011. "Social Ethics and Normative Economics," Studies in Choice and Welfare, Springer, number 978-3-642-17807-8, December.
    7. Atkinson, Anthony B., 1970. "On the measurement of inequality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 244-263, September.
    8. Allison, R. Andrew & Foster, James E., 2004. "Measuring health inequality using qualitative data," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 505-524, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Silber, Jacques & Yalonetzky, Gaston, 2021. "Measuring welfare, inequality and poverty with ordinal variables," GLO Discussion Paper Series 962, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ordinal variables; measurement of well-being; Hammond transfer; inequality aversion; stochastic dominance; prioritarianism.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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