Freedom of Choice, Power, and the Responsibility of Decision Makers

The paper combines the set-based concept of freedom of choice with the agent-based concept of power in order to derive a theoretical basis for the discussion of responsibility over social outcomes. It reviews the standard theory of ranking opportunity sets and applies the Public Good Index in order to evaluate the rankings from the point of view of the decision makers. In the social context, decision making is interpreted as forming coalitions that exert control over opportunity sets. Membership (i.e. participation) in controlling coalitions is suggested to serve as a proxy of the individual decision maker's responsibility for the social outcome.