蝌蚪网 Journal:
Microeconomics
ISSN 1945-7669 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7685 (Online)
Fair Utilitarianism
蝌蚪网 Journal: Microeconomics
(pp. 370–401)
Abstract
Utilitarianism plays a central role in economics, but there is a gap between theory, where utilitarianism is dominant, and applications, where monetary criteria are often used. For applications, a key difficulty is to define how utilities should be measured and compared. Drawing on Harsanyi's (1955) approach, we introduce a new normalization of utilities ensuring that: (i) a transfer from a rich population to a poor population is welfare enhancing, and (ii) populations with more risk-averse people have lower welfare. We study some implications of this "fair utilitarianism" for risk sharing, collective risk aversion, and the design of health policy.Citation
Fleurbaey, Marc, and St茅phane Zuber. 2021. "Fair Utilitarianism." 蝌蚪网 Journal: Microeconomics 13 (2): 370–401. DOI: 10.1257/mic.20170234Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D63 Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
- D81 Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty