A concern about low relative income, and the alignment of utilitarianism with egalitarianism

Oded Stark, Martyna Kobus and Marcin Jakubek

Economics Letters, 2012, vol. 114, issue 3, 235-238

Abstract: A utilitarian social planner who maximizes social welfare assigns the available income to those who are most efficient in converting income into utility. However, when individuals are concerned about their income falling behind the incomes of others, the optimal income distribution under utilitarianism is equality of incomes.

Keywords: Utilitarianism; Income equality; Social welfare maximization; Relative income (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H0 I0 I30 I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Working Paper: A concern about low relative income, and the alignment of utilitarianism with egalitarianism (2011)
Working Paper: A concern about low relative income, and the alignment of utilitarianism with egalitarianism (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:114:y:2012:i:3:p:235-238

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2011.10.024

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