Utilitarianism for infinite utility streams: summable differences and finite averages

Adam Jonsson () and Mark Voorneveld
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Adam Jonsson: Department of Engineering Science and Mathematics, Postal: Luleå University of Technology, 97187 Luleå, Sweden

No 747, SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance from Stockholm School of Economics

Abstract: This paper provides axiomatic descriptions of social welfare relations, defined on infinite streams of utility, that are consistent with the utilitarian criterion on subsets where maximizing aggregate utility has a clear interpretation: the streams, or their differences, are summable. Besides standard assumptions on efficiency, equity and interpersonal comparability, two axioms are introduced and shown to be necessary and sufficient. A more general version of one axiom suffices to distinguish streams with different long-run averages.

Keywords: Intergenerational equity; aggregating infinite utility streams; ethical social welfare relations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 D70 D90 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 12 pages
Date: 2014-03-17, Revised 2014-04-15
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ger and nep-upt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:hastef:0747

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