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Prevention against equality?

Author

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  • Fleurbaey, Marc
  • Ponthiere, Gregory

Abstract

Common sense supports prevention policies aimed at improving survival prospects among the population. It is also widely acknowledged that an early death is a serious disadvantage, and that attention should be paid to the compensation of short-lived individuals. This paper re-examines the compatibility of those two concerns: prevention against early death and compensation for early death. We show that, under mild conditions, no social ordering on allocations can satisfy a concern for prevention and a concern for compensation. The reason is that if it is socially desirable to raise the number of survivors through prevention, it must also be, under costly prevention, desirable to deteriorate the living standards of the short-lived. We then explore two approaches to the prevention/compensation dilemma, and study the associated optimal allocation of resources.

Suggested Citation

  • Fleurbaey, Marc & Ponthiere, Gregory, 2013. "Prevention against equality?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 68-84.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:103:y:2013:i:c:p:68-84
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2013.03.008
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    1. Fleurbaey,Marc & Maniquet,François, 2011. "A Theory of Fairness and Social Welfare," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521715348, October.
    2. Fleurbaey, Marc & Leroux, Marie-Louise & Ponthiere, Gregory, 2014. "Compensating the dead," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 28-41.
    3. Gary S. Becker & Tomas J. Philipson & Rodrigo R. Soares, 2005. "The Quantity and Quality of Life and the Evolution of World Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 277-291, March.
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    6. Balia, Silvia & Jones, Andrew M., 2008. "Mortality, lifestyle and socio-economic status," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 1-26, January.
    7. Elisha A. Pazner & David Schmeidler, 1978. "Egalitarian Equivalent Allocations: A New Concept of Economic Equity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 92(4), pages 671-687.
    8. Mullahy, John & Portney, Paul R., 1990. "Air pollution, cigarette smoking, and the production of respiratory health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 193-205, September.
    9. Fleurbaey, Marc, 2012. "Fairness, Responsibility, and Welfare," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199653591.
    10. Easterlin, Richard A., 1999. "How beneficent is the market? A look at the modern history of mortality," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(3), pages 257-294, December.
    11. Contoyannis, Paul & Jones, Andrew M., 2004. "Socio-economic status, health and lifestyle," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 965-995, September.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Ponthiere, Gregory, 2016. "Pollution, unequal lifetimes and fairness," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 49-64.
    2. Marie-Louise Leroux & Gregory Ponthiere, 2018. "Working time regulation, unequal lifetimes and fairness," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 51(3), pages 437-464, October.
    3. Marc Fleurbaey & Grégory Ponthière, 2019. "The Value of a Life-Year and the Intuition of Universality," Working Papers halshs-02393392, HAL.
    4. Leroux, Marie-Louise & Pestieau, Pierre & Ponthière, Grégory, 2015. "Longévité différentielle et redistribution : enjeux théoriques et empiriques," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 91(4), pages 465-497, Décembre.
    5. Marc Fleurbaey & Marie‐Louise Leroux & Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere, 2016. "Fair Retirement Under Risky Lifetime," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 57(1), pages 177-210, February.
    6. Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere, 2022. "Optimal lockdown and social welfare," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(1), pages 241-268, January.
    7. Pestieau, Pierre & Ponthiere, Gregory, 2016. "Longevity Variations And The Welfare State," Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 82(2), pages 207-239, June.
    8. Marie-Louise Leroux & Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere, 2022. "Childlessness, childfreeness and compensation," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 59(1), pages 1-35, July.
    9. Marie-Louise Leroux & Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere, 2021. "Fair long-term care insurance," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 57(3), pages 503-533, October.
    10. Gregory Ponthiere, 2020. "A theory of reverse retirement," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 22(5), pages 1618-1659, September.
    11. Grégory Ponthière, 2017. "Pollution, décès prématuré et compensation," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 68(1), pages 97-118.
    12. repec:hal:pseose:hal-01095463 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere, 2014. "Policy Implications of Changing Longevity," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 60(1), pages 178-212.
    14. Marc Fleurbaey & Gregory Ponthiere, 2023. "Measuring well-being and lives worth living," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 75(4), pages 1247-1266, May.
    15. Mario Menegatti, 2021. "Subsidizing risk prevention," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 134(2), pages 175-193, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Compensation; Equality; Longevity; Mortality; Prevention;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D71 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy

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