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The tyranny of non-aggregation versus the tyranny of aggregation in social choices: a real dilemma

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Fleurbaey, Marc [UCL] Tungodden, Bertil

Can a tiny gain to sufficiently many well-off justify imposing a much larger sacrifice on the worst-off? We show that if one answers negatively to such a question and endorses replication invariance, one is forced to accept the maximin principle and give full priority to the worst-off even when a tiny gain to the worst-off imposes a substantial sacrifice on arbitrarily many well-off. If one dislikes this consequence, one faces a real dilemma in choosing between the tyranny of aggregation and the tyranny of non-aggregation.

Document type Article de périodique (Journal article) – Article de recherche
Access type Accès restreint
Publication date 2010
Language Anglais
Journal information "Economic Theory" - Vol. 44, no. 3, p. 399-414 (2010)
Peer reviewed yes
Publisher Springer (New York)
issn 0938-2259
e-issn 1432-0479
Publication status Publié
Affiliation UCL
Keywords Aggregation ; Social choice ; Maximin ; Utilitarianism
Links
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  3. Rawls J.A.: Theory of Justice. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (1971)
  4. Scanlon T.: What We Owe Each Other. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (1998)
  5. Tungodden B.: The value of equality. Econ Philos 19(1), 1–44 (2003)
  6. Young H.P.: An axiomatization of Borda’s rule. J Econ Theory 9, 43–52 (1974)
Bibliographic reference Fleurbaey, Marc ; Tungodden, Bertil. The tyranny of non-aggregation versus the tyranny of aggregation in social choices: a real dilemma. In: Economic Theory, Vol. 44, no. 3, p. 399-414 (2010)
Permanent URL http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/34878