Egalitarianism with a Dash of Fair Efficiency

Abstract

We study the construction of Paretian egalitarian social ordering functions in a distribution model with multiple goods and heterogeneous preferences. Given the impossibility to combine equality of resources with efficiency (Fleurbaey and Trannoy, 2003), we define weaker axioms of equality and efficiency relying on the mean bundle in the allocation. We identify a leximin social ordering functions that satisfy these weaker axioms by relying on welfare measures representing the fraction of the mean bundle that would leave an agent indifferent with her bundle.

Keywords: Fairness, Social orderings, Equality, Efficiency

JEL Classification: D63, D71