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The Impossibility of a Paretian (Il)liberal. A Historical Review Around Sen?s Liberalism (1970-1996)

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  • Valentina Erasmo

Abstract

This paper provides a historical review of the two main debates around Sen?s liberalism between the Seventies and the Nineties since his "The Impossibility of a Paretian Liberal2 (1970). The first debat was published in the Journal of Political Economy and included several contributions, such as those of Hillinger and Lapham (1971), Sen?s reply to Hillinger and Lapham (1971) and Ng (1971). The second de- bate appeared in Analyse & Kritik and includes the contributions of Buchanan (1996), and Mueller (1996), along with Sen?s reply (1996). This analysis is histori- cally relevant because it offers the opportunity to explore both the evolution of the main critiques on: Sen?s liberalism and Sen?s replies within these 25 years. The most important observation of this paper is that these different perspectives, elaborated in different historical moments, reached the same conclusion, namely that Sen?s liber- alism is rather "illiberal".

Suggested Citation

  • Valentina Erasmo, 2023. "The Impossibility of a Paretian (Il)liberal. A Historical Review Around Sen?s Liberalism (1970-1996)," HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2023(1), pages 91-116.
    • Handle: RePEc:fan:spespe:v:html10.3280/spe2023-001004
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gibbard, Allan, 1974. "A Pareto-consistent libertarian claim," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 7(4), pages 388-410, April.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • B00 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - General - - - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches
    • B21 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Microeconomics
    • B31 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - Individuals

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