IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/cesptp/halshs-04828788.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Exploring infinite population utilitarianism under strong anonymity

Author

Listed:
  • Geir B Asheim

    (Department of Economics [Oslo] - Faculty of Social Sciences [Oslo] - UiO - University of Oslo)

  • Kohei Kamaga

    (Sophia University [Tokyo])

  • Stéphane Zuber

    (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

We examine utilitarian criteria for evaluating profiles of well-being among infinitely many individuals. Motivated by the non-existence of a natural 1-to-1 correspondence between people when alternatives have different population structures, with a different number of people in each generation, we impose equal treatment in the form of Strong Anonymity. We demonstrate how a novel criterion, Strongly Anonymous Utilitarianism, can be applied in the Ramsey model, leading to an efficient and sustainable stream. We show how the criterion is the result of combining Strong Anonymity with other regularity axioms (Monotonicity, Finite Completeness, and continuity axioms) as well as axioms of equity, population ethics, sensitivity, and separability. We relate it to other strongly anonymous utilitarian criteria.

Suggested Citation

  • Geir B Asheim & Kohei Kamaga & Stéphane Zuber, 2024. "Exploring infinite population utilitarianism under strong anonymity," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-04828788, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-04828788
    DOI: 10.1007/s00199-024-01620-6
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-04828788v1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-04828788v1/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00199-024-01620-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alcantud, José Carlos R., 2012. "Inequality averse criteria for evaluating infinite utility streams: The impossibility of Weak Pareto," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 147(1), pages 353-363.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sakamoto, Norihito & 坂本, 徳仁, 2011. "Impossibilities of Paretian Social Welfare Functions for Infinite Utility Streams with Distributive Equity," Discussion Papers 2011-09, Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University.
    2. Sakamoto, Norihito, 2012. "Impossibilities Of Paretian Social Welfare Functions For Infinite Utility Streams With Distributive Equity," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 53(2), pages 121-130, December.
    3. Dubey, Ram Sewak, 2016. "A Note On Social Welfare Orders Satisfying Pigou-Dalton Transfer Principle," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 57(2), pages 243-262, December.
    4. Geir B Asheim & Kohei Kamaga & Stéphane Zuber, 2024. "Exploring infinite population utilitarianism under strong anonymity," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-04828788, HAL.
    5. Geir B. Asheim & Kuntal Banerjee & Tapan Mitra, 2021. "How stationarity contradicts intergenerational equity," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 72(2), pages 423-444, September.
    6. Dubey, Ram Sewak, 2016. "On construction of social welfare orders satisfying Hammond equity and Weak Pareto axioms," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 119-124.
    7. José Carlos R. Alcantud, 2013. "The impossibility of social evaluations of infinite streams with strict inequality aversion," Economic Theory Bulletin, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 1(2), pages 123-130, November.
    8. José Carlos R. Alcantud & María D. García-Sanz, 2013. "Evaluations of Infinite Utility Streams: Pareto Efficient and Egalitarian Axiomatics," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(3), pages 432-447, July.
    9. Pivato, Marcus & Fleurbaey, Marc, 2024. "Intergenerational equity and infinite-population ethics: A survey," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    10. Dubey, Ram Sewak & Mitra, Tapan, 2014. "On construction of equitable social welfare orders on infinite utility streams," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 53-60.
    11. Ram Sewak Dubey & Tapan Mitra, 2015. "On social welfare functions on infinite utility streams satisfying Hammond Equity and Weak Pareto axioms: a complete characterization," Economic Theory Bulletin, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 3(2), pages 169-180, October.
    12. Toyotaka Sakai, 2016. "Limit representations of intergenerational equity," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 47(2), pages 481-500, August.
    13. Geir B Asheim & Kohei Kamaga & Stéphane Zuber, 2024. "Exploring infinite population utilitarianism under strong anonymity," Post-Print halshs-04828788, HAL.
    14. Henrik Petri, 2019. "Asymptotic properties of welfare relations," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 67(4), pages 853-874, June.
    15. Dubey, Ram Sewak & Laguzzi, Giorgio, 2021. "Equitable preference relations on infinite utility streams," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Utilitarianism; Intergenerational equity; Population ethics;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-04828788. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.