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Intergenerational equity and infinite-population ethics: A survey

Author

Listed:
  • Marcus Pivato

    (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne)

  • Marc Fleurbaey

    (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

Abstract

This article surveys the recent literature on infinite-horizon intergenerational social welfare and infinite-population ethics, reviewing the negative and positive results about the existence or constructibility of social preference relations and social welfare functions for infinite populations. Impossibility results primarily refer to the tension between Pareto and Anonymity (or inequality aversion). Positive results include characterizations of core social preference relations with which any relation satisfying desirable properties must be compatible, as well as overtaking criteria, asymptotic criteria, averaging criteria, hyperreal criteria, and criteria that focus on the worst-off.

Suggested Citation

  • Marcus Pivato & Marc Fleurbaey, 2024. "Intergenerational equity and infinite-population ethics: A survey," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) hal-05106152, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:pseptp:hal-05106152
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jmateco.2024.103021
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    Cited by:

    1. Jeremy Goodman & Harvey Lederman, 2024. "Maximal Social Welfare Relations on Infinite Populations Satisfying Permutation Invariance," Papers 2408.05851, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2024.
    2. Michael Greinecker & Michael Nielsen, 2025. "Strict Comparisons of Infinite Utility Streams," Papers 2507.20567, arXiv.org.
    3. Frikk Nesje & Paolo G. Piacquadio & Paolo Giovanni Piacquadio, 2025. "Intergenerational Discounting and Inequality," CESifo Working Paper Series 11630, CESifo.
    4. 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.
    5. Goodman, Jeremy, 2025. "Permutation-invariant social welfare orders are anonymous," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).

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