Opportunities as Chances: Maximising the Probability that Everybody Succeeds

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Mariotti, Marco; Veneziani, Roberto
• 署名单位: University of London; Queen Mary University London
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1111/ecoj.12467
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 1609-1633
• 关键词: infinite utility streams; individualistic ethics; cardinal welfare; noninterference; Impossibility; equity

摘要

We model opportunities in society as chances of success', that is as they are commonly described by practitioners. We show that a classical liberal principle of justice together with a limited principle of social rationality imply that the social objective should be to maximise the chance that everybody in society succeeds. Technically, this means using a Nash' welfare criterion. A particular consequence is that the failure of even only one individual must be considered maximally detrimental. We also study a refinement of this criterion and its extension to problems of intergenerational justice.