Fair Social Ordering, Egalitarianism, and Animal Welfare
37 Pages Posted: 2 Apr 2018 Last revised: 3 Mar 2020
Date Written: September 6, 2018
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.
Keywords: Welfare Economics, Animal Ethics, Egalitarianism, Efficiency, Fairness
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