Utilitarianism, prioritarianism, and intergenerational equity: A cake eating model
نویسندگان
چکیده
We use a simple consumption model, the so-called cake eating model, to study the interaction of equity, time and risk in social decision making. Total consumption, the “cake,” is uncertain. The social planner allocates consumption between two agents (representing two generations), by assigning the first a determinate amount, with the second receiving the risky remainder. We study this consumption allocation decision using three social welfare functions: utilitarianism, ex ante prioritarianism, and ex post prioritarianism. Under standard assumptions, ex ante prioritarianism allocates more consumption to the first generation than utilitarianism. Thus, a concern for equity, in the ex ante prioritarian sense, means less concern for the risky future. By contrast, ex post prioritarianism normally chooses less consumption for the first generation than utilitarianism. We discuss the robustness of these optimal consumption allocations to learning and ∗We thank the associate editor and two anonymous referees for useful comments. We also thank conference participants at WCERE 2014, EGRIE 2014, HECER (Helsinki), NHH (Bergen), and Grantham Institute (London) for their comments. Nicolas Treich acknowledges funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP72007-2013) under grant agreement n◦[266992] entitled GLOBAL-IQ and the chair “Finance Durable et Investissement Responsable” (FDIR). Corresponding author: Nicolas Treich. Email: [email protected]
منابع مشابه
Consumption, Risk and Prioritarianism
In this paper, we study consumption decisions under risk assuming a prioritarian social welfare function, namely a concave transformation of individual utility functions. Under standard assumptions, there is always more current consumption under ex ante prioritarianism than under utilitarianism. Thus, a concern for equity (in the ex ante prioritarian sense) means less concern for the risky futu...
متن کاملFOR ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY SOLUTIONS and the DUKE UNIVERSITY ENERGY INITIATIVE Consumption , Risk
In this paper, we study consumption decisions under risk assuming a prioritarian social welfare function, namely a concave transformation of individual utility functions. Under standard assumptions, there is always more current consumption under ex ante prioritarianism than under utilitarianism. Thus, a concern for equity (in the ex ante prioritarian sense) means less concern for the risky futu...
متن کاملEquality-Tempered Prioritarianism
According to prioritarianism, the only thing that improves a state of affairs is improvements in well-being. In this, prioritarianism agrees with many traditional axiologies, including classical utilitarianism. Distinctive about prioritarianism, however, is its weighting. Simply put, all welfare benefits improve a state of affairs, but benefits to worse-off persons improve states of affairs mor...
متن کاملIntergenerational Equity and the Discount Rate for Cost-benefit Analysis Revised Version
For two independent principles of intergenerational equity, the implied discount rate equals the growth rate of real percapita income, say 2%, thus falling right into the range suggested by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. To prove this, we develop a simple tool to evaluate small policy changes affecting several generations, by reducing the dynamic problem to a static one. A necessary ...
متن کاملPrioritarianism and Climate Change
Prioritarianism is the ethical view that gives greater weight to well-being changes affecting individuals at lower well-being levels. This view is influential both in moral philosophy, and in theoretical work on social choice—where it is captured by a social welfare function (“SWF”) summing a concave transformation of individual well-being numbers. However, prioritarianism has largely been igno...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید
ثبت ناماگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید
ورودعنوان ژورنال:
- Mathematical Social Sciences
دوره 87 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2017