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Living Standard, Social Welfare, and the Redistribution of Income in a Heterogeneous Population

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  • UDO EBERT

Abstract

The paper considers the redistribution of income in a population of households which may differ by type. The redistribution is based on (differences in) living standard and a principle of between‐type‐progressive transfers (BTPT). We characterize the relationship between a social welfare ordering satisfying the BTPT principle and the concept of living standard the principle is based on. It turns out that there is a close link: The ordering of living standard can be derived from the social welfare ordering. Conversely, the class of welfare orderings fulfilling the BTPT principle for a given concept of living standard can be completely described.

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  • Udo Ebert, 2008. "Living Standard, Social Welfare, and the Redistribution of Income in a Heterogeneous Population," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 10(5), pages 873-889, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jpbect:v:10:y:2008:i:5:p:873-889
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9779.2008.00390.x
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    1. Kevin W. S. Roberts, 1980. "Interpersonal Comparability and Social Choice Theory," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 47(2), pages 421-439.
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    10. Ooghe, Erwin, 2007. "Sequential dominance and weighted utilitarianism," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 208-212, February.
    11. Udo Ebert & Patrick Moyes, 2003. "Equivalence Scales Reconsidered," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(1), pages 319-343, January.
    12. Udo Ebert, 2007. "Ethical inequality measures and the redistribution of income when needs differ," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 5(3), pages 263-278, December.
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    14. Udo Ebert, 2004. "Social welfare, inequality, and poverty when needs differ," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 23(3), pages 415-448, December.
    15. Ooghe, Erwin & Lambert, Peter, 2006. "On bounded dominance criteria," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 15-30, July.
    16. Udo Ebert, 1999. "Using equivalent income of equivalent adults to rank income distributions," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 16(2), pages 233-258.
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    1. Udo Ebert, 2010. "Equity‐regarding poverty measures: differences in needs and the role of equivalence scales," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(1), pages 301-322, February.
    2. repec:zbw:hohpro:331 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Udo Ebert, 2011. "The redistribution of income when needs differ," Working Papers V-331-11, University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics, revised Feb 2011.
    4. Udo Ebert, 2010. "Dominance criteria for welfare comparisons: using equivalent income to describe differences in needs," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 69(1), pages 55-67, July.
    5. Nicolas Gravel & Patrick Moyes, 2011. "Bidimensional Inequalities with an Ordinal Variable," Studies in Choice and Welfare, in: Marc Fleurbaey & Maurice Salles & John A. Weymark (ed.), Social Ethics and Normative Economics, pages 101-127, Springer.
    6. repec:old:wpaper:331 is not listed on IDEAS

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