Article
Treading a Fine Line: Characterisations and Impossibilities for Liberal Principles in Infinitely-Lived Societies
The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics
(2013)
Abstract
This paper extends the analysis of liberal principles in social choice recently proposed by Mariotti and Veneziani (2009a) to infinitely-lived societies. First, some novel characterisations of inegalitarian leximax social welfare relations are derived based on the Individual Benefit Principle (IBP), which incorporates a liberal, non-interfering view of society. This is surprising because the IBP does not explicitly incorporate any preference for inequality, nor does it assign priority to well-off members of society. Second, some impossibility results are derived that highlight a general tension between standard fairness and efficiency axioms in social choice, and a liberal Principle of Non-Interference that generalises IBP.
Keywords
- infinite utility streams,
- individual benefit principle,
- leximax,
- non-interference,
- impossibility
Publication Date
February 18, 2013
Citation Information
Michele Lombardi and Roberto Veneziani. "Treading a Fine Line: Characterisations and Impossibilities for Liberal Principles in Infinitely-Lived Societies" The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics Vol. 12 Iss. 1 (2013) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/roberto_veneziani/1/