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Welfare Egalitarianism with Other-Regarding Preferences

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We study the fair allocation of a one-dimensional and perfectly divisible good when individuals have other-regarding preferences. Assuming no legitimate claims and purely ordinal preferences, how should society measure social welfare so as to satisfy basic principles of efficiency and fairness? We define the egalitarian equivalent as the size of the egalitarian allocation which leaves the individual indifferent to the current allocation. In two simple models of average and positional externalities, we characterize the class of social preferences which give full priority to the individual with the lowest egalitarian equivalent in the economy.

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  • Treibich, Rafael, 2014. "Welfare Egalitarianism with Other-Regarding Preferences," Discussion Papers on Economics 22/2014, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:sdueko:2014_022
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    Cited by:

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    2. Aitor Calo-Blanco, 2020. "Health and fairness with other-regarding preferences," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 24(3), pages 123-141, December.
    3. Aitor Calo-Blanco, 2025. "Fairness with unequal productive skills among other-regarding individuals," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 23(1), pages 205-226, March.
    4. Olivier BARGAIN & Maria C. LO BUE & Flaviana PALMISANO, 2022. "Dynastic Measures of Intergenerational Mobility," Bordeaux Economics Working Papers 2022-21, Bordeaux School of Economics (BSE).
    5. Martin Linden, 2018. "Egalitarianism with a dash of fair efficiency," Economic Theory Bulletin, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 6(2), pages 219-238, October.
    6. Decerf,Benoit Marie A & Ferrando,Mery & Quinn,Natalie N., 2021. "Global Income Poverty Measurement with Preference Heterogeneity : Theory and Application," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9844, The World Bank.
    7. Flaviana Palmisano, 2024. "Compassion and envy in distributional comparisons," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 96(1), pages 153-184, February.
    8. Benoit Decerf & Martin Linden, 2016. "Fair social orderings with other-regarding preferences," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 46(3), pages 655-694, March.
    9. Aitor Calo-Blanco, 2017. "Health and fairness with other-regarding preferences," Working Papers 17.04, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics.
    10. Aitor Calo-Blanco, 2022. "Fairness and unequal productive skills among other-regarding individuals," Working Papers 22.06, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics.

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    JEL classification:

    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • D71 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations

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