Endogenous Inequality Aversion: Decision criteria for triage and other ethical tradeoffs

Federico Echenique, Teddy Mekonnen and M. Bumin Yenmez

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Abstract: Medical ``Crisis Standards of Care'' call for a utilitarian allocation of scarce resources in public emergencies, whereas standards of care under normal conditions place relatively greater priority on the worst-off. Inspired by such triage rules, we study social welfare criteria whose distributive trade-offs depend on society's well-being, as captured by aggregate welfare. Because the welfare level determines the applicable aggregation criterion, while that criterion in turn determines welfare, the resulting criteria are self-referential. We provide an axiomatic foundation for a family of welfare criteria that become more utilitarian as aggregate welfare falls and more Rawlsian as it rises, thereby formalizing triage guidelines. We also characterize the converse case, in which priority to the worst-off increases as aggregate welfare falls.

Date: 2026-01, Revised 2026-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-des and nep-upt
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