The tyranny puzzle in social preferences: an empirical investigation

Cowell, Frank A., Fleurbaey, Marc and Tungodden, Bertil (2015) The tyranny puzzle in social preferences: an empirical investigation. Social Choice and Welfare, 45 (4). pp. 765-792. ISSN 0176-1714

Preview

PDF - Accepted Version Download (744kB) | Preview

• Author

Abstract

When forming their preferences about the distribution of income, rational people may be caught between two opposite forms of “tyranny.” Giving absolute priority to the worst-off imposes a sort of tyranny on the rest of the population, but giving less than absolute priority imposes a reverse form of tyranny where the worst-off may be sacrificed for the sake of small benefits to many well-off individuals. We formally show that this intriguing dilemma is more severe than previously recognised, and we examine how people negotiate such conflicts with a questionnaire-experimental study. Our study shows that both tyrannies are rejected by a majority of the participants, which makes it problematic for them to define consistent distributive preferences on the distribution.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	http://www.springer.com/gb/
Additional Information:	© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015
Divisions:	Economics STICERD Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HA Statistics H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology
Date Deposited:	21 Apr 2015 13:39
Last Modified:	07 Jan 2024 04:18
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/61663

Actions (login required)

View Item