Aggregation of incomplete ordinal preferences with approximate interpersonal comparisons

Pivato, Marcus (2010): Aggregation of incomplete ordinal preferences with approximate interpersonal comparisons.

Abstract

We develop a model of preference aggregation where people's psychological characteristics are mutable (hence, potential objects of individual or social choice), their preferences may be incomplete, and approximate interpersonal comparisons of well-being are possible. Formally, we consider preference aggregation when individual preferences are described by an incomplete, yet interpersonally comparable, preference order on a space of psychophysical states. Within this framework we characterize three preference aggregators: the `Suppes-Sen' preorder, the `approximate maximin' preorder, and the `approximate leximin' preorder.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: interpersonal comparisons; well-being; ordinal; maximin; leximin; egalitarian; Suppes-Sen; incomplete preference
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I30 - General; D - Microeconomics > D7 - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making > D70 - General; D - Microeconomics > D6 - Welfare Economics > D63 - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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