UID:
edocfu_9960774844702883
Format:
1 online resource (xvi, 670 pages) :
,
digital, PDF file(s).
ISBN:
1-108-57442-4
,
1-108-57596-X
,
1-108-69173-0
Content:
Prioritarianism is an ethical theory that gives extra weight to the well-being of the worse off. In contrast, dominant policy-evaluation methodologies, such as benefit-cost analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, and utilitarianism, ignore or downplay issues of fair distribution. Based on a research group founded by the editors, this important book is the first to show how prioritarianism can be used to assess governmental policies and evaluate societal conditions. This book uses prioritarianism as a methodology to evaluate governmental policy across a variety of policy domains: taxation, health policy, risk regulation, education, climate policy, and the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also the first to demonstrate how prioritarianism improves on GDP as an indicator of a society's progress over time. Edited by two senior figures in the field with contributions from some of the world's leading economists, this volume bridges the gap from the theory of prioritarianism to its practical application.
Note:
Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 27 Jun 2022).
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Cover -- Half-title -- Title page -- Copyright information -- Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- List of Contributors -- 1 Introduction: Prioritarianism in Practice -- 1.1 Prioritarianism -- 1.2 Scholarship on Prioritarianism: A Brief Survey -- 1.2.1 Philosophy -- 1.2.2 Economics -- 1.2.3 Health Policy -- 1.3 This Volume -- References -- 2 Theory of Prioritarianism -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 The SWF Framework -- 2.2.1 Outcomes, Individuals, Policies -- 2.2.2 The Well-Being Measure -- 2.2.3 The SWF -- 2.2.4 The Uncertainty Module -- 2.2.5 A Note on the Integral Representation -- 2.2.6 A Note on Generalized-Lorenz Dominance -- 2.3 Axiomatic Characterization of SWFs -- 2.4 Defending Generalized-Utilitarian SWFs -- 2.5 Utilitarianism, Prioritarianism and Interpersonal Comparisons -- 2.6 Is Prioritarianism Genuinely Different from Utilitarianism? -- 2.7 Prioritarianism and Utilitarianism under Uncertainty -- 2.8 Utilitarianism versus Prioritarianism -- 2.9 Atkinson and Kolm-Pollak SWFs -- 2.9.1 Atkinson SWFs -- 2.9.2 Kolm-Pollak SWFs -- 2.10 Prioritarian SWFs and Inequality Metrics -- 2.11 Variable Population -- 2.12 Conclusion -- 2.A Appendix -- 2.A.1 SWFs: Formulas and Axioms -- 2.A.2 Uncertainty and the Policy Ranking -- 2.A.3 Functional Forms for Prioritarianism: Atkinson and Kolm-Pollak -- 2.A.3.1 Atkinson SWF (Profile-Independent) -- 2.A.3.2 Kolm-Pollak SWF (Profile-Dependent) -- 2.A.3.3 Atkinson SWF (Profile-Dependent) -- References -- 3 Well-Being Measurement -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 Attributes, Preferences, and Well-Being Measures -- 3.3 The Equivalence Approach -- 3.3.1 Measuring Well-being with a Collection of Reference Sets -- 3.3.2 Measuring Well-being with a Monotone Path -- 3.3.3 Measuring Well-being with Equivalent Incomes -- 3.3.4 The Equivalence Approach and Difference Comparisons -- 3.4 The vNM Approach.
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3.4.1 The vNM Approach: Elements -- 3.4.2 The vNM Approach versus the Equivalence Approach -- 3.4.3 Homogeneous Preferences -- 3.5 Non-Preference-Based Well-Being Measures -- 3.5.1 Objective Goods and Capabilities -- 3.5.2 Subjective Well-Being -- 3.6 Conclusion -- References -- 4 Prioritarianism and Optimal Taxation -- 4.1 Prioritarianism and the Theory of Optimal Taxation -- 4.1.1 Prioritarianism's Effects on Analytical Optimal Tax Results -- 4.1.2 Prioritarianism's Effects on Quantitative Optimal Tax Results -- 4.2 Prioritarianism and the Practice of Taxation -- 4.2.1 Are Existing Taxes Prioritarian? An Overview of Inverse Optimum Research -- 4.2.2 Are Tax Policy Preferences Prioritarian? Positive Optimal Taxation -- 4.3 The Future of Prioritarianism in Optimal Tax Theory and Practice -- References -- 5 Prioritarianism and Measuring Social Progress -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Social Welfare and Social Progress -- 5.2.1 Social Welfare Functions -- Outline placeholder -- The Atkinson Social Welfare Function -- The Kolm-Pollak Social Welfare Function -- 5.2.2 Decomposing Social Progress -- 5.2.2.1 Mean and Inequality -- 5.2.2.2 Visualizing Well-Being Changes: Growth Incidence Curves -- The relative growth incidence curve and the Atkinson social welfare function -- The absolute growth incidence curve and the Kolm-Pollak social welfare function -- 5.2.3 Inequality Aversion and the Well-Being Measure -- 5.2.4 Issues of Life and Death: Lifetime Well-Being and Variable Population -- 5.2.4.1 Lifetime Well-Being -- 5.2.4.2 Variable Population -- 5.3 Applications: Social Welfare with Different Measures of Individual Well-Being -- 5.3.1 Objective Measures of Well-Being -- 5.3.1.1 Income -- 5.3.1.2 Multidimensional Composite Indices of Well-Being -- 5.3.2 Happiness and Life Satisfaction -- 5.3.3 Preferentialist Approaches -- 5.3.3.1 Market Commodities.
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5.3.3.2 Including Non-Market Commodities -- Calibrated Preferences -- Estimated Preferences -- 5.4 An Empirical Illustration: Social Progress in Russia -- 5.4.1 Expenditures -- 5.4.2 Equivalent Incomes -- 5.4.3 Von Neumann-Morgenstern Utilities -- 5.5 Conclusion -- Appendix 5.A.1 Decomposing the Change of Social Welfare -- Appendix 5.A.2 Imputation of the Risk Attitudes Based on the RLMS-HSE Data -- References -- 6 Prioritarianism and Health Policy -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Background on Standard Economic Evaluation in the Health Sector -- 6.2.1 Summary Measures Of Health: Health-Adjusted Life Years (HALYs) -- 6.2.2 Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (CEA) -- 6.2.3 Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA) -- 6.2.3.1 Distributional Weights -- 6.3 Lifetime Well-Being Metrics for Prioritarian Evaluation -- 6.3.1 Using the ''Equivalence Approach'' to Derive ''Equivalent Life'' and ''Equivalent Income'' -- 6.3.2 A Parametric Approach to Operationalizing Equivalent Life -- 6.3.3 A Simple Non-Parametric Approach to Operationalizing Equivalent Income -- 6.4 Illustrative Example - Cancer in Ethiopia -- 6.4.1 Baseline Distributions -- 6.4.2 Calculation of Lifetime Well-Being -- 6.4.2.1 Equivalent Life in the Different Scenarios -- 6.4.2.2 Equivalent Income -- 6.4.3 Equivalent Income in the Different Scenarios -- 6.4.4 Prioritarian SWF for Equivalent Life and Equivalent Income: Comparing the Two Scenarios -- 6.4.4.1 Ex Ante and Ex Post Evaluations -- 6.4.4.2 Equally Distributed Equivalent Well-Being -- 6.4.5 Summary Results -- 6.5 Conclusion -- 6.A Appendix -- 6.A.1 A Simple Parameterization of the Equivalent Income -- 6.A.2. When Are Equivalent Life and Equivalent Health Equivalent? -- 6.A.3 Prioritarian SWFs for Equivalent Life and Equivalent Income -- 6.A.3.1 Baseline Scenario -- 6.A.3.2 Out-of-Pocket Finance Policy Scenario -- 6.A.3.3 Universal Public Finance Policy.
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6.A.3.4 Ex Ante Evaluation -- 6.A.3.5 Ex Post Evaluation -- 6.A.4 Alternative Tables (Equal Costs in OOP and UPF: Cancer Patients in Quintile 1 Receive Treatment under OOP) -- References -- 7 Prioritarianism and Fatality Risk Regulation -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 Valuing Mortality Risk Changes in BCA: The Value Per Statistical Life -- 7.3 SWFs Applied To a Single-Period Model -- 7.4 SWFs Applied To a Lifetime Model -- 7.4.1 Effects of Age and Priority To the Young -- 7.4.2 Effects of Income and Baseline Risk -- 7.5 Simulations -- 7.6 Extensions -- 7.6.1 Catastrophe Aversion and Nonseparable SWFs -- 7.6.2 Health -- 7.7 Conclusion -- References -- 8 Prioritarianism and Climate Change -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.2 Hot topics in climate policy: a brief introduction to the economics of climate change -- 8.3 Utilitarianism vs Prioritarianism: Basic Concepts -- 8.3.1 Expected Discounted Utilitarianism -- 8.3.2 Prioritarian Social Welfare Functions -- 8.3.2.1 Deterministic Setting -- 8.3.2.2 Prioritarianism under Risk -- 8.4 Prioritarian Climate Policies in a Deterministic Setting -- 8.4.1 The Green Prioritarian Dilemma -- 8.4.2 Intra-Generational Inequality -- 8.5 Prioritarian Climate Policies under Risk -- 8.6 Extensions -- 8.6.1 Heterogeneous Preferences -- 8.6.2 Equivalent Income -- 8.6.3 Variable Population -- 8.6.4 Uncertainty -- 8.7 Conclusion -- 8.A Appendix: Simulation Exercise -- 8.A.1 The Climate-Economy Model -- 8.A.2 Derivation of the Expressions For the SCC -- References -- 9 Prioritarianism and Education -- 9.1 Introduction -- 9.2 Normative Views in Education -- 9.2.1 A Brief Overview -- 9.2.2 Compatibility with Prioritarianism -- 9.2.3 A Brief Summary -- 9.3 A Critical Discussion of the Four Metrics -- 9.3.1. Outcomes or Opportunities? -- 9.3.2 Intrinsic or Instrumental? -- 9.3.3 A Brief Summary -- 9.4 Resource Allocation and Skill Formation.
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9.4.1 A Simple Dynamic Model of Skill Formation -- 9.4.2 The Problem of an Outcome-Prioritarian School Team -- 9.4.2.1 Vertical Allocation -- 9.4.2.2 Horizontal Allocation: Background -- 9.4.2.3 Horizontal Allocation: Ability versus Background -- 9.4.3 A Brief Summary -- 9.5 Extensions -- 9.5.1 Minister versus School Team -- 9.5.1.1 Same Goal, Other Information -- 9.5.1.2 Other Goal, Same Information -- 9.5.2 Higher versus Basic Education -- 9.5.3 Evaluation versus Design -- 9.5.4 Beyond Resources -- 9.5.5 Multiple Skills versus Educational Index -- 9.6 Conclusion -- 9.A Appendix -- 9.A.1 Decomposing the Four Metrics -- 9.A.2 The Allocation of a School Team -- 9.A.2.1 Assumptions -- 9.A.2.2 The Problem of the School Team -- 9.A.2.2.1 Background -- 9.A.2.2.2 Ability versus Background -- 9.A.2.2.3 Total Investment over Both Stages -- 9.A.3 The Allocation of a Minister -- References -- 10 Empirical Research on Ethical Preferences: How Popular is Prioritarianism? -- 10.1 Introduction -- 10.2 Ethical Preferences as Measured in Large Surveys -- 10.2.1 Many People Want Redistribution, but There Are Large Interindividual Differences in Distributive Preferences -- 10.2.2 Survey Experimental Designs -- 10.2.3 What Did We Learn about the Acceptance of Prioritarianism? -- 10.3 Questionnaire-Experimental Work: the Acceptance of Prioritarianism -- 10.3.1 Some Methodological Preliminaries -- 10.3.2 Acceptance of the Prioritarian Axioms -- 10.3.3 The Degree of Inequality Aversion -- 10.3.3.1 Income Inequality -- 10.3.3.2 Health Inequality -- 10.3.4 The Veil of Ignorance, Ex Ante and Ex Post -- 10.3.5 A Broader Set of Questions: Welfarism, Desert and Taxation -- 10.4 Ethical Preferences in the Lab -- 10.4.1 Methodological Considerations -- 10.4.2 Acceptance of the Prioritarian Axioms -- 10.4.3 The Degree of Inequality Aversion -- 10.4.4 Ex Ante versus Ex Post Views.
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10.4.5 A Broader Set of Questions: Welfarism, Desert and Taxation.
Additional Edition:
ISBN 1-108-48093-4
Additional Edition:
ISBN 9781108480932
Additional Edition:
ISBN 9781108703604
Language:
English
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