Reconciling the Rawlsian and the utilitarian approaches to the maximization of social welfare

Oded Stark, Marcin Jakubek and Fryderyk Falniowski

Economics Letters, 2014, vol. 122, issue 3, 439-444

Abstract: Under a deadweight loss of tax and transfer, there is tension between the optimal policy choices of a Rawlsian social planner and a utilitarian social planner. However, when with a weight greater than a certain critical value the individuals’ utility functions incorporate distaste for low relative income, a utilitarian will select exactly the same income distribution as a Rawlsian.

Keywords: Maximization of social welfare; Rawlsian social welfare function; Utilitarian social welfare function; Deadweight loss; Distaste for low relative income (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 D60 H21 I38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Reconciling the Rawlsian and the utilitarian approaches to the maximization of social welfare (2014)
Working Paper: Reconciling the Rawlsian and the utilitarian approaches to the maximization of social welfare (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:122:y:2014:i:3:p:439-444

DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2013.11.019

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