In Harsanyi's impartial observer theorem, an impartial observer determines a social ordering of the lotteries on the set of social alternatives based on a sympathetic but impartial concern for all individuals in society. This ordering is derived from a more primitive ordering on the set of all...

This paper presents an experimental test of the theory of individual sense of fairness of Karni and Safra (2000). According to this theory individuals' choice among random procedures designed to allocate indivisible goods is motivated, in part, by concern for fairness. The experimental study is...

A definition of a social state is proposed that incorporates the notion of procedural fairness into Harsanyi's (1955) analytical framework. We show that, within the new framework, a Harsanyi-type social welfare function is immune to Diamond's (1967) criticism. Moreover, the resulting social...

The moral imperative requiring “equal treatment of equal claims,” or impartiality, is defined in the frameworks of Harsanyi's aggregation and impartial observer theorems as an axiomatic restriction of the underlying moral value judgments. The implications of impartiality for the functional...

This paper examines the effects of Hicks-neutral, Harrod-neutral, and Solow-neutral technological improvements on the distribution of income in an overlapping generations economy with endogenous labor supply and a bequest motive. Income inequality in this model is generated by a stochastic...

This paper presents an experimental design that enables the elicitation of subjective probabilities of decision makers whose preferences satisfy the axioms of expected utility theory and are state-dependent. Copyright 1999 by Economics Department of the University of Pennsylvania and the Osaka...