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Working Paper 270 - The Economy of Tastes, Feelings, and Opinions

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  • Monga Célestin

Abstract

Interpersonal comparisons of well-being have preoccupied economists, social scientists, and philosophers for centuries. They are also central to theoretical debates about how to improve the lives of the people in Africa. Various problems must be addressed to elaborate intellectual and policy frameworks for making socially acceptable decisions. One must obviously start with valid methods for defining, understanding, capturing, and measuring the notion of individual well-being. The methods used for individual assessments should also be extended to social groups in ways that make them meaningful and credible. All this supposes that individual preferences can be measured at a satisfactory level of confidence and that the intrinsic “subjectivity” in such exercises is more than compensated by the “objectivity” of the methods used. This paper offers summarizes the intellectual progress made by economists in their search for a valid social choice theory, and outlines a few aspects of Amartya Sen’s most recent contribution on the topic. It then discusses some of the remaining ethical questions, and urges economists to be more attuned to the research findings in other social science disciplines and the humanities.

Suggested Citation

  • Monga Célestin, 2017. "Working Paper 270 - The Economy of Tastes, Feelings, and Opinions," Working Paper Series 2387, African Development Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:adb:adbwps:2387
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sen, Amartya K, 1977. "On Weights and Measures: Informational Constraints in Social Welfare Analysis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 45(7), pages 1539-1572, October.
    2. John C. Harsanyi, 1953. "Cardinal Utility in Welfare Economics and in the Theory of Risk-taking," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(5), pages 434-434.
    3. Eric Maskin, 2009. "The Arrow Impossibility Theorem: Where Do We Go From Here?," Economics Working Papers 0093, Institute for Advanced Study, School of Social Science.
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