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Living Standard, Social Welfare, and the Redistribution of Income in a Heterogeneous Population

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  • UDO EBERT

Abstract

The paper considers the redistribution of income in a population of households which may differ by type. The redistribution is based on (differences in) living standard and a principle of between‐type‐progressive transfers (BTPT). We characterize the relationship between a social welfare ordering satisfying the BTPT principle and the concept of living standard the principle is based on. It turns out that there is a close link: The ordering of living standard can be derived from the social welfare ordering. Conversely, the class of welfare orderings fulfilling the BTPT principle for a given concept of living standard can be completely described.

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  • Udo Ebert, 2008. "Living Standard, Social Welfare, and the Redistribution of Income in a Heterogeneous Population," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 10(5), pages 873-889, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jpbect:v:10:y:2008:i:5:p:873-889
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9779.2008.00390.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kevin W. S. Roberts, 1980. "Interpersonal Comparability and Social Choice Theory," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 47(2), pages 421-439.
    2. repec:bla:econom:v:64:y:1997:i:254:p:233-44 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Udo Ebert & Patrick Moyes, 2003. "Equivalence Scales Reconsidered," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(1), pages 319-343, January.
    4. Ooghe, Erwin, 2007. "Sequential dominance and weighted utilitarianism," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 208-212, February.
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    6. Udo Ebert, 2007. "Ethical inequality measures and the redistribution of income when needs differ," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 5(3), pages 263-278, December.
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    9. Ooghe, Erwin & Lambert, Peter, 2006. "On bounded dominance criteria," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 15-30, July.
    10. Udo Ebert, 2000. "Equivalizing Incomes: A Normative Approach," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 7(6), pages 619-640, December.
    11. Udo Ebert, 1999. "Using equivalent income of equivalent adults to rank income distributions," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 16(2), pages 233-258.
    12. Rothschild, Michael & Stiglitz, Joseph E., 1973. "Some further results on the measurement of inequality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 188-204, April.
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    15. Anthony F. Shorrocks, 2004. "Inequality and Welfare Evaluation of Heterogeneous Income Distributions," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2004-01, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    16. Udo Ebert, 2004. "Social welfare, inequality, and poverty when needs differ," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 23(3), pages 415-448, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Udo Ebert, 2011. "The redistribution of income when needs differ," Working Papers V-331-11, University of Oldenburg, Department of Economics, revised Feb 2011.
    2. Udo Ebert, 2010. "Dominance criteria for welfare comparisons: using equivalent income to describe differences in needs," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 69(1), pages 55-67, July.
    3. repec:old:wpaper:331 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Udo Ebert, 2010. "Equity-regarding poverty measures: differences in needs and the role of equivalence scales," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 43(1), pages 301-322, February.
    5. N. GRAVEL & Patrick MOYES, 2008. "Bidimensional Inequalities with an Ordinal Variable," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2008-14, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    6. Nicolas Gravel & Patrick Moyes, 2011. "Bidimensional Inequalities with an Ordinal Variable," Studies in Choice and Welfare, in: Marc Fleurbaey & Maurice Salles & John A. Weymark (ed.), Social Ethics and Normative Economics, pages 101-127, Springer.
    7. repec:zbw:hohpro:331 is not listed on IDEAS

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