Fairness Versus Welfare : notes on the Pareto principle, preferences, and distributive justice / Louis Kaplow, Steven Shavell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kaplow, Louis, author.

Shavell, Steven, 1946- author.

Series:

Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research) ; Number 9622.

Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research) ; Number 9622

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fairness.

Welfare economics.

Social policy.

Distributive justice.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (26 pages).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : National Bureau of Economic Research, 2003.

Summary:

In Fairness versus Welfare, we advance the thesis that social policies should be assessed based entirely on their effects on individuals' well-being. This thesis implies that no independent weight should be accorded to notions of fairness (other than many purely distributive notions). We support our thesis in three ways: by demonstrating how notions of fairness perversely reduce welfare, indeed, sometimes everyone's well-being; by revealing numerous other deficiencies in the notions, including their lack of sound rationales; and by providing an account of notions of fairness that explains their intuitive appeal in a manner that reinforces the conclusion that they should not be treated as independent principles in policy assessment. In this essay, we discuss these three themes and comment on issues raised by Richard Craswell, Lewis Kornhauser, and Jeremy Waldron.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.