Fair Social Ordering, Egalitarianism, and Animal Welfare
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Marc Fleurbaey
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Martin Van der Linden
- American Economic Journal: Microeconomics (Forthcoming)
Abstract
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 it 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.
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