Abstract
This paper overviews the research on social decision criteria under uncertainty and attempts to provide insights for future directions.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Aczel, J. and G. Maksa (1996) “Solution of the Rectangular m×n Generalized Bisymmetry Equation and of the Problem of Consistent Aggregation”, Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications, Vol. 203, No. 1, pp. 104–126.
Alon, S. and G. Gayer (2016) “Utilitarian Preferences with Multiple Priors”, Econometrica, Vol. 84, No. 3, pp. 1181–1201.
Anscombe, F. J. and R. J. Aumann (1963) “A Definition of Subjective Probability”, The Annals of Mathematical Statistics, Vol. 34, pp. 199–205.
Arrow, K. J. (1971) “The Theory of Risk Aversion”, Essays in the Theory of Risk-Bearing, pp. 90–120.
——— (1973) “The Role of Securities in the Optimal Allocation of Risk-bearing”, in M. J. Farrell, eds, Readings in Welfare Economics, London, England: Palgrave, pp. 258–263.
Ben-Porath, E., I. Gilboa and D. Schmeidler (1997) “On the Measurement of Inequality under Uncertainty”, Journal of Economic Theory, Vol. 75, No. 1, pp. 194–204.
Bernheim, B. D. and A. Rangel (2009) “Beyond Revealed Preference: Choice-theoretic Foundations for Behavioral Welfare Economics”, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 124, No. 1, pp. 51–104.
Bewley, T. F. (2002) “Knightian Decision Theory. Part I”, Decisions in Economics and Finance, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 79–110.
Border, K. C. (1985) “More on Harsanyi’s Utilitarian Cardinal Welfare Theorem”, Social Choice and Welfare, Vol. 1, No. 4, pp. 279–281.
Ceron, F. and V. Vergopoulos (2019) “Aggregation of Bayesian Preferences: Unanimity vs Monotonicity”, Social Choice and Welfare, Vol. 52, No. 3, pp. 419–451.
Chambers, C. P. and T. Hayashi (2006) “Preference Aggregation under Uncertainty: Savage vs. Pareto”, Games and Economic Behavior, Vol. 54, No. 2, pp. 430–440.
———and———(2012) “Choice and Individual Welfare”, Journal of Economic Theory, Vol. 147, No. 5, pp. 1818–1849.
——— and——— (2014) “Preference aggregation with incomplete information”, Econometrica, Vol. 82, No. 2, pp. 589–599.
Chew, S. H., L. G. Epstein and U. Segal (1991) “Mixture Symmetry and Quadratic Utility”, Econometrica, Vol. 59, No. 1, pp. 139–163.
Danan, E., T. Gajdos, B. Hill and J. M. Tallon (2016) “Robust Social Decisions”, American Economic Review, Vol. 106, No. 9, pp. 2407–2425.
De Meyer, B. and P. Mongin (1995) “A Note on Affine Aggregation”, Economics Letters, Vol. 47, No. 2, pp. 177–183.
Diamond, P. A. (1967) “Cardinal Welfare, Individualistic Ethics, and Interpersonal Comparison of Utility: Comment”, The Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 75, No. 5, p. 765.
Epstein, L. G. and U. Segal (1992) “Quadratic Social Welfare Functions”, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 100, No. 4, pp. 691–712.
Fishburn, P. C. (1970) “Utility Theory for Decision Making (No. RAC-R-105)”, Research Analysis Corp, McLean, VA.
——— (1971) “A Study of Lexicographic Expected Utility”, Management Science, Vol. 17, No. 11, pp. 672–678.
——— (2015) The Theory of Social Choice, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Fleurbaey, M. (2010) “Assessing Risky Social Situations”, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 118, No. 4, pp. 649–680.
——— (2018) “Welfare Economics, Risk and Uncertainty”, Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d’économique, Vol. 51, No. 1, pp. 5–40.
——— and S. Zuber (2017) “Fair Management of Social Risk”, Journal of Economic Theory, Vol. 169, pp. 666–706.
———, T. Gajdos and S. Zuber (2015) “Social Rationality, Separability, and Equity under Uncertainty”, Mathematical Social Sciences, Vol. 73, pp. 13–22.
Gajdos, T., J. M. Tallon and J. C. Vergnaud (2008) “Representation and Aggregation of Preferences under Uncertainty”, Journal of Economic Theory, Vol. 141, No. 1, pp. 68–99.
Gayer, G., I. Gilboa, L. Samuelson and D. Schmeidler (2014) “Pareto Efficiency with Different Beliefs”, The Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 43, No. S2, pp. S151–S171.
Gilboa, I., and D. Schmeidler (1989) “Maxmin Expected Utility with Non-unique Prior”, Journal of Mathematical Economics, Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 141–153.
———, D. Samet and D. Schmeidler (2004) “Utilitarian Aggregation of Beliefs and Tastes”, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 112, No. 4, pp. 932–938.
———, L. Samuelson and D. Schmeidler (2014) “No-Betting Pareto Dominance”, Econometrica, Vol. 82, No. 4, pp. 1405–1442.
Hammond, P. J. (1976) “Changing Tastes and Coherent Dynamic Choice”, The Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 43, No. 1, pp. 159–173.
———(1981) “Ex-ante and Ex-post Welfare Optimality under Uncertainty”, Economica, Vol. 48, No. 191, pp. 235–250.
Hammond, P. (1983) “Ex-post Optimality as a Dynamically Consistent Objective for Collective Choice under Uncertainty”, in P. K. Pattanaik and M. Salles, eds, Contributions to Economic Analysis, Vol. 145, Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 175–205.
Harsanyi, J. C. (1955) “Cardinal Welfare, Individualistic Ethics, and Interpersonal Comparisons of Utility”, Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 63, No. 4, pp. 309–321.
Hayashi, T. (2011) “Context Dependence and Consistency in Dynamic Choice under Uncertainty: The Case of Anticipated Regret”, Theory and Decision, Vol. 70, No. 4, pp. 399–430.
———(2013) “Smallness of a Commodity and Partial Equilibrium Analysis”, Journal of Economic Theory, Vol. 148, No. 1, pp. 279–305.
———(2014) “Consumer Surplus Analysis under Uncertainty: A General Equilibrium Perspective”, Journal of Mathematical Economics, Vol. 55, pp. 154–164.
——— (2016) “Consistent Updating of Social Welfare Functions”, Social Choice and Welfare, Vol. 46, No. 3, pp. 569–608.
——— and M. Lombardi (2018) “Fair Social Decision under Uncertainty and Belief Disagreements”, Economic Theory, pp. 1–42.
Herstein, I. N. and J. Milnor (1953) “An Axiomatic Approach to Measurable Utility”, Econometrica, Journal of the Econometric Society, pp. 291–297.
Hylland, A. and R. Zeckhauser (1979) “The Impossibility of Bayesian Group Decision Making with Separate Aggregation of Beliefs and Values”, Econometrica, Vol. 47, No. 6, pp. 1321–1336.
Karni, E., D. Schmeidler and K. Vind (1983) “On State Dependent Preferences and Subjective Probabilities”, Econometrica, Vol. 51, No. 4, pp. 1021–1031.
Machina, M. J. (1989) “Dynamic Consistency and Non-expected Utility Models of Choice under Uncertainty”, Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 1622–1668.
Mas-Colell, A., M. D. Whinston and J. R. Green (1995) Microeconomic Theory, New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Mongin, P. (1995) “Consistent Bayesian Aggregation”, Journal of Economic Theory, Vol. 66, No. 2, pp. 313–351.
——— (1998) “The Paradox of the Bayesian Experts and State-dependent Utility Theory”, Journal of Mathematical Economics, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp. 331–361.
——— (2016) “Spurious Unanimity and the Pareto Principle”, Economics & Philosophy, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 511–532.
——— and M. Pivato (2015) “Ranking Multidimensional Alternatives and Uncertain Prospects”, Journal of Economic Theory, Vol. 157, pp. 146–171.
M. D. Adler and M. Fleurbaey, eds, (2016) “Social Evaluation under Risk and Uncertainty”, in The Oxford Handbook of Well-Being and Public Policy, Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, pp. 711–745.
Moulin, H. (1991) Axioms of Cooperative Decision Making (No. 15), Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Nehring, K. (2004) “The Veil of Public Ignorance”, Journal of Economic Theory, Vol. 119, No. 2, pp. 247–270.
Radner, R. (1968) “Competitive Equilibrium under Uncertainty”, Econometrica, Vol. 36, No. 1, pp. 31–58.
Rao, K. B. and M. B. Rao (1983) Theory of Charges: A Study of Finitely Additive Measures, Vol. 109, Cambridge, MA: Academic Press.
Rogerson, W. P. (1980) “Aggregate Expected Consumer Surplus as a Welfare Index with an Application to Price Stabilization”, Econometrica, Vol. 48, No. 2, pp. 423–436.
Rubinstein, A. and Y. Salant (2011) “Eliciting Welfare Preferences from Behavioural Data Sets”, The Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 79, No. 1, pp. 375–387.
Savage, L. J. (1972) The Foundations of Statistics, 2nd edn, New York, NY: Dover.
Schlee, E. E. (2003) “Expected Consumer’s Surplus as an Approximate Welfare Measure”, Arizona State University, Economics Working Paper.
Sen, A. (1986) “Social Choice Theory”, Handbook of Mathematical Economics, Vol. 3, pp. 1073–1181.
Vives, X. (1987) “Small Income Effects: A Marshallian Theory of Consumer Surplus and Downward Sloping Demand”, Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 54, No. 1, pp. 87–103.
Waugh, F. V. (1944) “Does the Consumer Benefit from Price Instability?”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 58, pp. 602–614.
Weymark, J. A. (1991) “A Reconsideration of the Harsanyi-Sen Debate on Utilitarianism”, in J. Elster and J. E. Roemer, eds, Interpersonal Comparisons of Well-being, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, pp. 255–320.
———(1993) “Harsanyi’s Social Aggregation Theorem and the Weak Pareto Principle”, Social Choice and Welfare, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 209–221.
Willig, R. D. (1976) “Consumer’s Surplus Without Apology”, The American Economic Review, Vol. 66, No. 4, pp. 589–597.
Zuber, S. (2016) “Harsanyi’s Theorem Without the Sure-Thing Principle: On the Consistent Aggregation of Monotonic Bernoullian and Archimedean Preferences”, Journal of Mathematical Economics, Vol. 63, pp. 78–83.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hayashi, T. What Should Society Maximise Under Uncertainty?. JER 70, 446–478 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1111/jere.12230
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jere.12230