a) (2) Give a formula for a social welfare function in terms of the bundles of...

 

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a) (2) Give a formula for a social welfare function in terms of the bundles of goods received by each member of the population. Let X', denote the quantity of good j received (and presumably consumed) by individual i. b) (3) An individualistic social welfare function is a form of social welfare function that has a particular property. Give the formula for an individualistic social welfare function, and explain its particular property that distinguishes it from the broader class of social welfare functions. Consider the following situation. Individuals A and B have the same tastes except that A derives one unit of utility from attending a classical music concert but no utility from attending a hard metal concert, while B derives no utility from attending the classical music concert and one unit of utility from attending the hard metal concert. The "planner" (the agent whose tastes are reflected in the social welfare function), meanwhile, believes that attending a classical music concert elevates the human spirit while attending a hard metal concert does not. Would this planner evaluate social welfare to be the same if both A and B attend only the classical music concert as if both A and B attend only the hard metal concert? 1, ---, c) (2) Jeremy Bentham, a classical utilitarian, argued that social welfare should be measured by adding up the utilities of individuals in the population: W=EU(X₁,- X'), where W is social welfare, U'() is the utility function of individual i, and X', is defined in part a). This formula could also describe a particular form of a Bergson- Samuelson social welfare function. The two are not, however, the same. Indicate the difference. d) (2) "Equality before the Law" likely means different things to someone who subscribes to consequentialism than to someone who subscribes to procedural equity. Explain. e) (2) What would a strict Rawlsian philosopher say about the change in social welfare brought about by a S transfer from Bill Gates to the second worst-off person in the population? f) (4) In terms of his evaluation of legal outcomes: Is the author a strict adherent of consequentialism, a strict adherent of procedural equity, or somewhere in between? On what evidence do you base your statement? To the extent that the author is a welfarist, does he believe that individuals' utility functions are cardinal or ordinal? On what evidence do you base your statement? a) (2) Give a formula for a social welfare function in terms of the bundles of goods received by each member of the population. Let X', denote the quantity of good j received (and presumably consumed) by individual i. b) (3) An individualistic social welfare function is a form of social welfare function that has a particular property. Give the formula for an individualistic social welfare function, and explain its particular property that distinguishes it from the broader class of social welfare functions. Consider the following situation. Individuals A and B have the same tastes except that A derives one unit of utility from attending a classical music concert but no utility from attending a hard metal concert, while B derives no utility from attending the classical music concert and one unit of utility from attending the hard metal concert. The "planner" (the agent whose tastes are reflected in the social welfare function), meanwhile, believes that attending a classical music concert elevates the human spirit while attending a hard metal concert does not. Would this planner evaluate social welfare to be the same if both A and B attend only the classical music concert as if both A and B attend only the hard metal concert? 1, ---, c) (2) Jeremy Bentham, a classical utilitarian, argued that social welfare should be measured by adding up the utilities of individuals in the population: W=EU(X₁,- X'), where W is social welfare, U'() is the utility function of individual i, and X', is defined in part a). This formula could also describe a particular form of a Bergson- Samuelson social welfare function. The two are not, however, the same. Indicate the difference. d) (2) "Equality before the Law" likely means different things to someone who subscribes to consequentialism than to someone who subscribes to procedural equity. Explain. e) (2) What would a strict Rawlsian philosopher say about the change in social welfare brought about by a S transfer from Bill Gates to the second worst-off person in the population? f) (4) In terms of his evaluation of legal outcomes: Is the author a strict adherent of consequentialism, a strict adherent of procedural equity, or somewhere in between? On what evidence do you base your statement? To the extent that the author is a welfarist, does he believe that individuals' utility functions are cardinal or ordinal? On what evidence do you base your statement?

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a W X A social welfare function is a function that aggregates the welfare of all individuals in a society In other words it is a function that measures how welloff the members of a society are There a... View the full answer