I build a model to make a key point that social welfare functions that only rely on individual utility (or individual preference orderings) still may reflect what people typically think of as a non-welfarist approach, further suggesting that non-welfarist methods (e.g., paternalistic methods)...

Abstract: Since the 18th century, doubt has been raised concerning “rational” majoritarian public choice: the “voting paradox” holds, in a simple calculation made famous by the Marquis de Condorcet, that rational resolution of divergent preferences by voting is impossible. The economist...