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Intergenerational Population Ethics

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  • Paolo Giovanni Piacquadio

Abstract

This paper characterizes a novel class of welfare criteria for settings with endogenous population. The core innovation is to treat parents’ fertility preferences as ethically relevant, deferring to them on the quality--quantity trade-off under conditions of equality. The resulting family of criteria generalizes discounted utilitarianism by reconciling respect for parents' fertility preferences with equity across generations. These criteria resolve long-standing normative dilemmas that afflict existing approaches to population ethics, such as total and average utilitarianism. After formal characterization, I illustrate the criterion in stylized examples and a Barro–Becker environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Paolo Giovanni Piacquadio, 2025. "Intergenerational Population Ethics," CESifo Working Paper Series 12106, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12106
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    File URL: https://www.ifo.de/DocDL/cesifo1_wp12106.pdf
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    JEL classification:

    • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
    • D70 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - General

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