Perception-theoretic Foundations of Weighted Utilitarianism

Bibliographic Data

ID9710165
AuthorsRossella Argenziano (0000-0003-1346-8668, University of Essex, corresponding author), Itzhak Gilboa (0000-0002-6062-7660, HEC, Paris-Saclay and Tel-Aviv Univeristy)
Year2019
Volume129
Issue620
Pages1511-1528
Publication date2019-05-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Economic Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-0133 • E-ISSN: 1468-0297
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/ecoj.12622
OpenAlexW2807055550
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited19

We provide a microfoundation for a weighted utilitarian social welfare function that reflects common moral intuitions about interpersonal comparisons of utilities. If utility is only ordinal in the usual microeconomic sense, interpersonal comparisons are meaningless. Nonetheless, economics often adopt utilitarian welfare functions, assuming that comparable utility functions can be calibrated, using information beyond consumer choice data. We show that consumer choice data alone are sufficient. As suggested by Edgeworth (1881), just noticeable differences (JNDs) provide a common unit of measure for interpersonal comparisons of utility differences. We prove that a simple monotonicity axiom implies a weighted utilitarian aggregation of preferences, with weights proportional to individual JNDs

Axiom · Econometrics · Economics · Function (biology · Independence of irrelevant alternatives · Interpersonal communication · Mathematical economics · Microeconomics · Monotonic function · Perception · Social choice theory · Social preferences · Utilitarianism · Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics · Economic and Environmental Valuation · Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies · Mathematics · Psychology · Social Psychology

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