IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joecth/v80y2025i1d10.1007_s00199-024-01620-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring infinite population utilitarianism under strong anonymity

Author

Listed:
  • Geir B. Asheim

    (University of Oslo)

  • Kohei Kamaga

    (Sophia University)

  • Stéphane Zuber

    (Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne and CNRS, Centre d’Economie de la Sorbonne
    Paris School of Economics)

Abstract

We examine utilitarian criteria for evaluating profiles of well-being among infinitely many individuals. Motivated by the non-existence of a natural 1-to-1 correspondence between people when alternatives have different population structures, with a different number of people in each generation, we impose equal treatment in the form of Strong Anonymity. We demonstrate how a novel criterion, Strongly Anonymous Utilitarianism, can be applied in the Ramsey model, leading to an efficient and sustainable stream. We show how the criterion is the result of combining Strong Anonymity with other regularity axioms (Monotonicity, Finite Completeness, and continuity axioms) as well as axioms of equity, population ethics, sensitivity, and separability. We relate it to other strongly anonymous utilitarian criteria.

Suggested Citation

  • Geir B. Asheim & Kohei Kamaga & Stéphane Zuber, 2025. "Exploring infinite population utilitarianism under strong anonymity," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 80(1), pages 39-85, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joecth:v:80:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s00199-024-01620-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s00199-024-01620-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00199-024-01620-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00199-024-01620-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Utilitarianism; Intergenerational equity; Population ethics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D71 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations
    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:joecth:v:80:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1007_s00199-024-01620-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.