Fairness and risk attitudes

Bradley, Richard ORCID: 0000-0003-2184-7844 and Stefansson, H. Orii (2023) Fairness and risk attitudes. Philosophical Studies, 180 (10-11). 3179 – 3204. ISSN 0031-8116

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Abstract

According to a common judgement, a social planner should often use a lottery to decide which of two people should receive a good. This judgement undermines one of the best-known arguments for utilitarianism, due to John C. Harsanyi, and more generally undermines axiomatic arguments for utilitarianism and similar views. In this paper we ask which combinations of views about (a) the social planner’s attitude to risk and inequality, and (b) the subjects’ attitudes to risk are consistent with the aforementioned judgement. We find that the class of combinations of views that can plausibly accommodate this judgement is quite limited. But one theory does better than others: the theory of chance-sensitive utility.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.springer.com/journal/11098
Additional Information:	© 2023 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
Date Deposited:	10 Oct 2023 09:33
Last Modified:	25 Apr 2024 07:44
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/120406

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