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On the Continuity of Ethical Social Welfare Orders

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Author Info
Banerjee, Kuntal (Cornell U)
Mitra, Tapan (Cornell U)
Abstract

In this paper we study the extent to which ethical social welfare orders on infinite utility streams can be continuous. For a class of metrics, we show that ethical preferences can be continuous if and only if the continuity requirement is in terms of a metric which satisfies a simplex condition. This condition requires that the distance from the origin to the unit simplex in the space of utility streams be positive. We use this characterization result to establish that the metric used by Svensson (1980) induces the weakest topology for which there exist continuous ethical preferences.

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Paper provided by Cornell University, Center for Analytic Economics in its series Working Papers with number 04-16.

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Date of creation: Dec 2004
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Handle: RePEc:ecl:corcae:04-16

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D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
D70 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - General
D90 - Microeconomics - - Intertemporal Choice and Growth - - - General

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  1. Svensson, Lars-Gunnar, 1980. "Equity among Generations," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(5), pages 1251-56, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Luc Lauwers, 1997. "Continuity and equity with infinite horizons," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 345-356. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Kaushik Basu & Tapan Mitra, 2003. "Aggregating Infinite Utility Streams with InterGenerational Equity: The Impossibility of Being Paretian," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(5), pages 1557-1563, 09. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Toyotaka Sakai, 2006. "Equitable Intergenerational Preferences on Restricted Domains," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 41-54, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. M. Fleurbaey & P. Michel, 1997. "Intertemporal equity and the extension of the Ramsey criterion," THEMA Working Papers 97-11, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
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  6. Toyotaka Sakai, 2003. "An axiomatic approach to intergenerational equity," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 167-176. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Brown, Donald J & Lewis, Lucinda M, 1981. "Myopic Economic Agents," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(2), pages 359-68, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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