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Interpersonal Comparisons Of Well-Being

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Author Info
Blackorby, Charles (Department of Economics, University of Warwick and GREQAM)
Bossert, Walter (D´epartement de Sciences Economiques and CIREQ, Universit´e deMontr´eal)

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Abstract

This paper, which is to be published as a chapter in the Oxford Handbook of Political Economy, provides an introduction to social-choice theory with interpersonal comparisons of well-being. We argue that the most promising route of escape from the negative conclusion of Arrow’s theorem is to use a richer informational environment than ordinal measurability and the absence of interpersonal comparability of well-being. We discuss welfarist social evaluation (which requires that the levels of individual well-being in two alternatives are the only determinants of their social ranking) and present characterizations of some important social-evaluation orderings. Journal of Economic Literature

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File URL: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/workingpapers/publications/twerp711.pdf
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by University of Warwick, Department of Economics in its series The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) with number 711.

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Length: 18 pages
Date of creation: 2004
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Handle: RePEc:wrk:warwec:711

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Related research
Keywords: Arrow’s theorem ; social choice with interpersonal utility comparisons ; welfarism;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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. Blackorby, C. & Bossert, W. & Donaldson, D., 1999. "Utilitarianism and the Theory of Justice," UBC Departmental Archives 99-20, UBC Department of Economics.
    Other versions:
  2. 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)
  3. Blackorby, Charles & Donaldson, David & Weymark, John A., 1999. "Harsanyi's social aggregation theorem for state-contingent alternatives1," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 365-387, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Charles Blackorby & Walter Bossert & David Donaldson, 2005. "Multi-profile welfarism: A generalization," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 253-267, 04. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Weymark, J.A., 1990. "A Reconsideration Of The Harsanyi-Sen Debate On Utilitarianism," UBC Departmental Archives 90-03, UBC Department of Economics.
  6. Weymark, J.A., 1990. "Harsanyi'S Social-Aggregation Theorem With Alternative Pareto Principles," UBC Departmental Archives 90-28, UBC Department of Economics.
  7. Maskin, Eric, 1978. "A Theorem on Utilitarianism," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 45(1), pages 93-96, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Gevers, Louis, 1979. "On Interpersonal Comparability and Social Welfare Orderings," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(1), pages 75-89, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Roberts, Kevin W S, 1980. "Possibility Theorems with Interpersonally Comparable Welfare Levels," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(2), pages 409-20, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. BLACKORBY, Charles & BOSSERT, Walter & DONALDSON, David, 2006. "Population Ethics," Cahiers de recherche 2006-15, Universite de Montreal, Departement de sciences economiques. [Downloadable!]
  11. Blackorby, Charles & Donaldson, David, 1992. "Pigs and Guinea Pigs: A Note on the Ethics of Animal Exploitation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 102(415), pages 1345-69, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Deschamps, Robert & Gevers, Louis, 1978. "Leximin and utilitarian rules: A joint characterization," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 143-163, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Pollak, Robert A, 1971. "Additive Utility Functions and Linear Engel Curves," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 38(116), pages 401-14, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Blackorby, Charles & Donaldson, David, 1982. "Ratio-Scale and Translation-Scale Full Interpersonal Comparability without Domain Restrictions: Admissible Social-Evaluation Functions," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 23(2), pages 249-68, June.
  15. Weymark, J.A., 1993. "Further Remarks on Harsanyi's Social Aggregation Theorem and the Weak Pareto Principle," UBC Departmental Archives 93-39, UBC Department of Economics.
  16. Sen, Amartya, 1974. "Informational bases of alternative welfare approaches : Aggregation and income distribution," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 387-403, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Charles Blackorby & David Donaldson, & John A. Weymark, 1997. "Social Aggregation and the Expected Utility Hypothesis," Old UBC Departmental Papers 9705, UBC Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  18. Sen, Amartya K, 1979. "Personal Utilities and Public Judgements: Or What's Wrong with Welfare Economics?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 89(355), pages 537-58, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. 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. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Blackorby, Charles & Donaldson, David, 1984. "Social criteria for evaluating population change," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1-2), pages 13-33, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Hammond, Peter J, 1979. "Equity in Two Person Situations: Some Consequences," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 47(5), pages 1127-35, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  22. Mongin, Ph., 1991. "Harsanyi's aggregation theorem: multi-profile version and unsettled questions," CORE Discussion Papers 1991036, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
  23. Walter Bossert & John A. Weymark, . "Utility in Social Choice," Old UBC Departmental Papers 9623, UBC Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  24. 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.
  25. Roberts, Kevin W S, 1980. "Interpersonal Comparability and Social Choice Theory," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(2), pages 421-39, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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. Vincenzo Atella & Carlos Arias & Federico Perali & Raffaella Castagnini, 2003. "Estimation of the Sharing Rule Between Adults and Children and Related Equivalence Scales Within a Collective Consumption Framework," CEIS Research Paper 28, Tor Vergata University, CEIS. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Vincenzo Atella & J. Coggins & Federico Perali, 2002. "Aversion to inequality in Italy and its determinants," CHILD Working Papers wp03_03, CHILD - Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic economics - ITALY. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Sunil Kumar & Renuka Mahadevan, 2008. "Construction of An Adult Equivalence Index to Measure Intra-household Inequality and Poverty: Case Study," Discussion Papers Series 363, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia. [Downloadable!]
  4. Jay S. Coggins & Federico Perali, 2000. "Voting For Equity: Estimating Society'S Preferences Toward Inequality," CHILD Working Papers wp04_00, CHILD - Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic economics - ITALY. [Downloadable!]
  5. Wiebke Kuklys, 2004. "A Monetary Approach to Capability Measurement of the Disabled - Evidence from the UK," Papers on Strategic Interaction 2004-08, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Strategic Interaction Group. [Downloadable!]
  6. Vincenzo Atella & Martina Menon & Federico Perali, 2003. "Estimation of Unit Values in Cross Sections without Quantity Information and Implications for Demand and Welfare Analysis," CEIS Research Paper 12, Tor Vergata University, CEIS. [Downloadable!]
  7. F. Pedrali, 2002. "Can PIGLOG Preferences Identify Equivalence Scales ?," THEMA Working Papers 2002-03, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise. [Downloadable!]
  8. Gordon Anderson, 2003. "Poverty in America 1970-1990: who did gain ground? An application of stochastic dominance criteria employing simultaneous inequality tests in a partial panel," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(6), pages 621-640. [Downloadable!]
  9. Merz, Joachim & Garner, Thesia & Smeeding, Timothy M. & Faik, Jürgen & Johnson, David, 1994. "Two Scales, One Methodology - Expenditure Based Equivalence Scales for the United States and Germany," MPRA Paper 7233, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  10. Federico Perali, 2002. "Some curiosites about the Engel method to estimate equivalence scales," Economics Bulletin, Economics Bulletin, vol. 4, pages 1-7. [Downloadable!]
  11. Kuntal Banerjee, 2006. "On the Extension of the Utilitarian and Suppes–Sen Social Welfare Relations to Infinite Utility Streams," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 327-339, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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