• English
    • norsk
  • English 
    • English
    • norsk
  • Login
View Item 
  •   Home
  • Norges Handelshøyskole
  • Department of Economics
  • Discussion papers (SAM)
  • View Item
  •   Home
  • Norges Handelshøyskole
  • Department of Economics
  • Discussion papers (SAM)
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Who are the least advantaged?

Tungodden, Bertil; Vallentyne, Peter
Working paper
Thumbnail
View/Open
dp2004-34.pdf (231.2Kb)
Permanent link
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/162770
Issue date
2005-01
Metadata
Show full item record
Collections
  • Discussion papers (SAM) [553]
Abstract
The difference principle, introduced by Rawls (1971, 1993), is generally interpreted as

leximin, but this is not how he intended it. Rawls explicitly states that the difference principle

requires that aggregate benefits (e.g., average or total) to those in the least advantaged group be

given lexical priority over benefits to others, where the least advantaged group includes more

than the strictly worst off individuals. We study the implications of adopting different

approaches to the definition of the least advantaged group and show that, if acyclicity is required,

several seemingly plausible approaches lead to something close to leximin. We then show that

significant aggregation is possible, if the least advantaged group is defined as those with those

with less benefits than some strictly positive transform of the lowest level of benefits. Finally, we

discuss the implications of requiring that, in comparing two alternatives, the cutoff for the least advantaged group of one alternative be the same as that for the other alternative.
Publisher
Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration. Department of Economics
Series
Discussion paper
2004:34

Contact Us

Privacy policy
Powered by DSpace software

Service from Unit
 

 

Browse this CollectionIssue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsDocument TypesJournalsBrowse ArchiveCommunities & CollectionsIssue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsDocument TypesJournals

My Account

Login

Statistics

View Usage Statistics

Contact Us

Privacy policy
Powered by DSpace software

Service from Unit