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Prevention against equality?

Author

Listed:
  • Marc Fleurbaey

    (Economic Theory Center - Princeton University)

  • Grégory Ponthière

    (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 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 des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

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

  • Marc Fleurbaey & Grégory Ponthière, 2012. "Prevention against equality?," PSE Working Papers halshs-00677393, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-00677393
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00677393
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Fleurbaey, Marc & Leroux, Marie-Louise & Ponthiere, Gregory, 2014. "Compensating the dead," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 28-41.
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    6. Fleurbaey, Marc, 2012. "Fairness, Responsibility, and Welfare," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199653591.
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    8. Fleurbaey,Marc & Maniquet,François, 2011. "A Theory of Fairness and Social Welfare," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521887427.
    9. Kaplan, G.A. & Seeman, T.E. & Cohen, R.D. & Knudsen, L.P. & Guralnik, J., 1987. "Mortality among the elderly in the Alameda County study: Behavioral and demographic risk factors," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 77(3), pages 307-312.
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    11. 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.
    12. 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.
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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. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Marc Fleurbaey & Grégory Ponthière, 2019. "The Value of a Life-Year and the Intuition of Universality," Working Papers halshs-02393392, HAL.
    6. Grégory Ponthière, 2017. "Pollution, décès prématuré et compensation," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 68(1), pages 97-118.
    7. 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.
    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. Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere, 2014. "Policy Implications of Changing Longevity," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 60(1), pages 178-212.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. repec:hal:pseose:hal-01095463 is not listed on IDEAS
    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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