Abstract
We show that a social planner who seeks to allocate a given sum in order to reduce efficiently the social stress of a population, as measured by the aggregate relative deprivation of the population, pursues a disbursement procedure that is identical to the procedure adhered to by a Rawlsian social planner who seeks to allocate the same sum in order to maximize the Rawlsian maximin-based social welfare function. Thus, the constrained minimization of aggregate relative deprivation constitutes an economics-based rationale for the philosophy-based constrained maximization of the Rawlsian social welfare function.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 179-186 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Research on Economic Inequality |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2020 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Aggregate relative deprivation (ARD)
- An algorithm of cost-effective policy response to ARD
- Congruence of the algorithm with the Rawlsian social welfare program
- Rawlsian social welfare function
- Social stress