Population Ethics and the Value of Life

Charles Blackorby (), Walter Bossert () and David Donaldson

No RP2005/03, Working Papers from World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER)

Abstract: Public policies often involve choices of alternatives in which the size and the composition of the population may vary. Examples are the allocation of resources to prenatal care and the design of aid packages to developing countries. In order to assess the corresponding feasible choices on normative grounds, criteria for social evaluation that are capable of performing variable-population comparisons are required. We review several important axioms for welfarist population principles and discuss the link between individual well-being and the desirability of adding a new person to a given society.

Keywords: population ethics; neutrality; critical levels (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005

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Related works:
Working Paper: Population Ethics and the Value of Life (2003)
Working Paper: Population Ethics and the Value of Life (2003)
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:unu:wpaper:rp2005-03

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