Fair Social Ordering, Egalitarianism, and Animal Welfare

Journal article: We study fairness in economies where humans consume one private good and one public good representing the welfare of other species. We show that a social evaluator cannot be egalitarian with respect to humans while always respecting humans’ unanimous preferences. One solution is to respect unanimous preferences only when doing so does not lead to a decrease in the welfare of other species. Social preferences satisfying these properties reveal surprising connections between concerns for other species, egalitarianism among humans, and unanimity: the latter two imply a form of dictatorship from humans with the strongest preference for the welfare of other species. (JEL D11, D63, H41)

Author(s)

Marc Fleurbaey, Martin van Der Linden

Journal
  • American Economic Journal: Microeconomics
Date of publication
  • 2021
Keywords JEL
D11 D63 H41
Pages
  • 466-491
Version
  • 1
Volume
  • 13