Abstract
A utilitarian social planner who maximizes social welfare assigns the available income to those who are most efficient in converting income into utility. However, when individuals are concerned about their income falling behind the incomes of others, the optimal income distribution under utilitarianism is equality of incomes.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 235-238 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Economics Letters |
Volume | 114 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2012 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Income equality
- Relative income
- Social welfare maximization
- Utilitarianism