Social choice with approximate interpersonal comparison of welfare gains

Marcus Pivato

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Suppose it is possible to make approximate interpersonal comparisons of welfare gains and losses. Thus, if w, x, y, and z are personal psychophysical states (each encoding all ethically relevant information about the physical and mental state of a person), then it sometimes possible to say, ``The welfare gain of the state change w --> x is greater than the welfare gain of the state change y --> z.'' We can represent this by the formula ``(w --> x)> (y --> z)'', where `>' is a `difference preorder': an incomplete preorder on the space of all possible personal state changes. A `social state change' is a bundle of personal state changes. A `social difference preorder' (SDP) is an incomplete preorder on the space of social state changes, which satisfies Pareto and Anonymity axioms. The `minimal' SDP is the natural extension of the Suppes-Sen preorder to this setting; we show that it is a subrelation of every other SDP. The `approximate utilitarian' SDP ranks social state changes by comparing the sum total utility gain they induce, with respect to all `utility functions' compatible with `>'. The `net gain' preorder ranks social state changes by comparing the aggregate welfare gain they induce upon various subpopulations. We show that, under certain conditions, all three of these preorders coincide.

Keywords: utilitarian; interpersonal comparisons; difference order; cardinal utility; linearly ordered abelian group (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 D70 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-07-14
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mic
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Social choice with approximate interpersonal comparison of welfare gains (2015)
Working Paper: Social choice with approximate interpersonal comparisons of welfare gains (2015)
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