This paper establishes an equivalence between three incomplete rankings of distributions of an ordinally measurable attribute. The first ranking is that associated with the possibility of going from distribution to the other by a finite sequence of two elementary operations: increments of the...

We provide a characterization of the generalised satisfaction - in our terminology nondeprivation - quasi-ordering introduced by S.R. Chakravarty (Keio Economic Studies 34 (1997), 17-32) for making welfare comparisons based on the absence of deprivation. We show that the non-deprivation...

The generalised Lorenz criterion is widely used for making welfare comparisons within and across countries on the basis of their income distributions. Experimental studies have challenged this way of proceeding by showing that the principle of transfers, which underlies the generalised Lorenz...

The generalised Lorenz criterion is widely used for making welfare comparisons within and across countries on the basis of their income distributions. Experimental studies have challenged this way of proceeding by showing that the principle of transfers, which underlies the generalised Lorenz...

We show that it is possible to reconcile the utilitarian and welfarist principles under the requirement of unanimity provided that the set of profiles over which the consensus is attained is rich enough. More precisely, we identify a closedness condition which, if satisfied by a class of...

The distribution of gross income net of taxes and transfers - or equivalenty consumption - is generally considered a reasonable approximation of the distribution of well-being in the society. One typically observes differing trends in the distribution of gross incomes across countries or within...