Utilitarianism for infinite utility streams: summable differences and finite averages

Adam Jonsson and Mark Voorneveld

This paper provides axiomatic descriptions of social welfare relations, defined on infinite streams of utility, that are consistent with the utilitarian criterion on subsets where maximizing aggregate utility has a clear interpretation: the streams, or their differences, are summable. Besides standard assumptions on efficiency, equity and interpersonal comparability, two axioms are introduced and shown to be necessary and sufficient. A more general version of one axiom suffices to distinguish streams with different long-run averages.

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Year of publication:	2014 ; Date: March 21, 2014
Authors:	Jonsson, Adam ; Voorneveld, Mark
Publisher:	Stockholm : Ekonomiska Forskningsinst.
Subject:	Intergenerational equity \| aggregating infinite utility streams \| ethical social welfare relations \| Generationengerechtigkeit \| Soziale Wohlfahrtsfunktion \| Social welfare function \| Theorie \| Theory \| Pareto-Optimum \| Pareto efficiency \| Utilitarismus \| Utilitarianism \| Gerechtigkeit \| Justice \| Nutzenfunktion \| Utility function