Showing papers in "Recherches Economiques De Louvain-louvain Economic Review in 1990"
TL;DR: In his Tanner Lecture of 1979 called Equality of What? Amartya Sen asked what metric egalitarians should use to establish the extent to which their ideal is realised in a given society as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In his Tanner Lecture of 1979 called Equality of What? Amartya Sen asked what metric egalitarians should use to establish the extent to which their ideal is realised in a given society. In this study I comment on answers to Sen’s question in recent philosophical literature. I describe and criticize what a number of authors (and notably Rawls and Sen) of egalitarian persuasion have said about the dimension(s) or respect(s) in which people should be made more equal, when the price in other values of moving towards greater equality is not intolerable.
327 citations
TL;DR: A social evaluation functional is a generalization of Arrow's social welfare function which makes no a priori assumptions concerning the measurability and comparability of utilities as mentioned in this paper, and it can be seen as a special case of a social evaluation function.
Abstract: determining a social ordering of a set of alternatives based on individual orderings. More specifically, an Arrovian social welfare function assigns a social ordering of the alternatives to each admissible profile of individual orderings. Arrow's Theorem demonstrates that if all conceivable profiles of individual orderings are admissible and if the weak Pareto principle and an independence of irrelevant alternatives condition are satisfied, then the social choice rule is dictatorial, provided the number of individuals is finite and there are at least three alternatives to be ranked. If utility functions are used to represent the individual orderings, Arrow's formulation implicitly requires utility to be ordinally measurable and interpersonally noncomparable. A social evaluation functional is a generalization of Arrow's social welfare function which makes no a priori assumptions concerning the measurability and comparability of utilities. A social evaluation functional assigns a social ordering of the alternatives to each admissible profile of individual utility functions. By requiring the social ordering to be invariant to independent increasing transforms of the utility functions, an Arrovian social welfare function emerges as a special case of a social evaluation functional l . * During the preparation of this article, Blackorby was a visitor at GREQE. We thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for research support. This article was prepared to honour Amartya Sen on the occassion of his receiving an honorary degree from the Universite Catholique de Louvain. Readers familiar with our research will be aware of the immense intellectual debt we owe to Amartya. We are also deeply indebted to him for the encouragement and help he has given us over the years. We offer this article as a small token of our appreciation.
29 citations
TL;DR: The authors have published a collection of essays on social choice theory and welfare economics with the purpose of answering a "reply" to the essays included in this special number of essays. But it is not easy to respond adequately to such a rich collection of challenging ideas and contributions, nor to hide the fact that I am delighted and feel tremendously honoured.
Abstract: The editors of this journal have kindly offered me the opportunity to write a “reply” to the essays included in this special number. It is not easy to respond adequately to such a rich collection of challenging ideas and contributions, nor to hide the fact that I am delighted — and feel tremendously honoured — by the occasion and by this wonderful set of essays. The papers cover a wide variety of fields : social choice theory and welfare economics (Blackorby, Donaldson and Weymark; Moulin); bargaining theory and social choice (Roemer); social justice and equality (Cohen; Van Parijs); evaluation of freedom (Pattanaik and Xu); rights and consequentialism (Steiner); evaluation of poverty (Bourguignon and Fields); standards of living (Schokkaert and Van Ootegem). I shall follow the authors from territory to territory, like a solitary “groupie”. But I shall also crane my neck in trying to view one territory from another, to explore some interconnections.
14 citations
TL;DR: A survey of axiomatic results on the utilization of common property resources can be found in this article, where problems discussed include the division of unproduced commodities (the traditional fair division problem), and the cooperative production of a private or public good.
Abstract: The paper surveys, without proofs, recent axiomatic results on the utilization of common property resources, by this author and some others. Problems discussed include the division of unproduced commodities (the traditional fair division problem), and the cooperative production of a private or public good. Axioms contrast No Envy with two monotonicity properties, respectively when the population owning the resources in common increases, and when these resources themselves grow.
12 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, three plausible axioms are introduced for ranking alternative opportunity sets in terms of the degrees of freedom that they offer to the agent making choices, and it is shown that judgements about degree of freedom of choice have to be based on the naive principle of simply counting the number of available options.
Abstract: The paper explores the notion of freedom of choice which is of considerable importance in welfare economics and the theory of social choice. Three plausible axioms are introduced for ranking alternative opportunity sets in terms of the degrees of freedom that they offer to the agent making choices. It is shown that, under these axioms, judgements about degrees of freedom of choice have to be based on the naive principle of simply counting the number of available options.
11 citations
TL;DR: In this article, it is shown that the value pluralism thereby presupposed is sufficient to render superfluous the idea of agent-relativity as a structural feature of ethical judgment.
Abstract: This essay explores Sen’s claim that rights-realization can be consequentially evaluated. Supporting this claim, it attempts to show that the value pluralism thereby presupposed is sufficient to render superfluous the idea — advanced by Sen and others — of ‘agent-relativity’ as a structural feature of ethical judgment.
3 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors define the utility possibilities set associated with each profile u and set X as a set of social alternatives, defined on X, and define the set of utility functions associated with the profile u.
Abstract: Welfarism is a property of a social choice rule (SCR). Let X be a set of social alternatives, / a finite set of cardinality η of agents, and U a set of possible utility functions for the agents, defined on X. A SCR / is a correspondence from Un into X ; it associates with each profile u a set of socially acceptable alternatives. Define the utility possibilities set associated with the profile u and set X as:
2 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors re-examine the uncovered interest parity (UIP) condition for four major currencies using weekly data and conduct specification tests using residuals from the LUS class and implement error orthogonality tests, in contrast to many of the extant empirical efficiency tests, use a specific selection criterion.
Abstract: Recent exchange rate theorising has relied increasingly on some
version of the uncovered interest parity (UIP) condition. This reliance
reflects a belief that the UIP condition isa better building block for an
exchange rate model than purchasing power parity, which has demonstrably
not held for the recent floating period1. But is UIP a better
building block? The empirical evidence on UIP is somewhat mixed -
some researchers find in favour of the hypothesis whilst others argue
that it is not supported by the data. Clearly the validity of UIP is
of considerable interest and importance since a number of celebrated
results, such as the Dornbusch (1976) overshooting story, depend on
it. In this paper we re-examine the UIP condition for four major currencies
using weekly data. Our study has a number of novel features.
Thus we conduct specification tests using residuals from the LUS class
in addition to the OLS class and implement error orthogonality tests
which, in contrast to many of the extant empirical efficiency tests, use
a specific selection criterion. We also consider whether or not errors
which arise in the market for one currency have an information role in
the markets for other currencies, this is assessed through semi strong
error orthogonality tests.
2 citations
1 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyse the competitiveness of the industries of Belgium in terms of valeur ajoutee and d'emploi industriels, and conclude that les points forts appartiennent plutot a des secteurs traditionnels and that, par contre, les performances belges sur le marche communautaire soient mediocres dans des sectors en developpement.
Abstract: Cette etude a pour but d'examiner la position competitive des industries belges dans les secteurs les plus concernes par l'achevement du marche interieur. Trois principales conclusions emergent de cette analyse. Tout d'abord, les enjeux du marche interieur sont particulierement importants pour l'industrie belge puisque les secteurs les plus sensibles a 1992 y representent 63% de la valeur ajoutee industrielle, contre 49% en moyenne dans la communaute europeenne. Ensuite, la situation de l'industrie belge dans ces secteurs est globalement favorable puisque le poids des points forts en termes de valeur ajoutee et d'emploi industriels l'emporte sur celui des points faibles. Toutefois, ces dernieres occupent pres de 20% de l'emploi industriel. Finalement, il faut deplorer que les points forts appartiennent plutot a des secteurs traditionnels et que, par contre, les performances belges sur le marche communautaire soient mediocres dans des secteurs en developpement, comme l'informatique et les telecommunications.
1 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, it is argued that there is a need for some organization of these relations, as integration within Western Europe cannot be the solution, and that the domestic bases of market-type economic relations within the CMEA region are not yet created.
Abstract: Along with the domestic economic reforms going on in the Eastern European countries and in the USSR, a reform of the socialist economic integration framework, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) has been on the agenda for already many years. It has proved impossible to achieve integration through plan coordination. A unified socialist market has been contemplated since 1988. But after the Eastern European “revolution” of 1989 the prerequisites for such a market are politically not feasible. Prom the economic point of view, the domestic bases of market-type economic relations within the CMEA region are not yet created. Yet, it is argued, there is a need for some organization of these relations, as integration within Western Europe cannot be the solution.
TL;DR: The authors analyzes the optimal allocation of a given antipoverty budget consistent with various usual measures of poverty and shows that it is generally optimal to give all the budget either to the poorest or to the richest of the poor.
Abstract: This paper analyzes the optimal allocation of a given antipoverty budget consistent with various usual measures of poverty. It is shown that it is generally optimal to give all the budget either to the poorest or to the richest of the poor. It is only with the Sen index of poverty that it is sometimes optimal to combine both types of allocation. This property may be related to the normalization rule used in the derivation of that measure and sheds some new light on the axiomatics of poverty measurement.
TL;DR: The transformation of the planned into a market economy has started before the elections as discussed by the authors, and the result of neoliberal measures introduced in a totalitarian way is the rapid impoverishment of the population and the increase of inequalities.
Abstract: The eastern European systems, Hungary included, need complete restructuring. Radical political reform needs take precedence over the economic reforms: no genuine economic reform is possible without a legitimate, democratically elected parliament and government. The transformation of the planned into a market economy has started before the elections. Marketization and privatisation have been pressed in the fields where resistance has been the smallest, i.e. where the losses hit the weaker groups — i.e. in case of health, social security, and such like. Also, inflation and unemployment are accepted as inevitable. The result of neoliberal measures introduced in a totalitarian way is the rapid impoverishment of the population and the increase of inequalities. The mounting tensions may become an obstacle to genuine reforms.
TL;DR: In this paper, the emphasis is falling on the release of labour from the material branches and on its partial redeployment in the service sector in general and in the cooperative sphere in particular.
Abstract: Policy approach towards employment has changed under perestroika. The emphasis is falling on the release of labour from the material branches and on its partial redeployment in the service sector in general and in the cooperative sphere in particular. The pattern of labour redeployment, however, does not suggest that under perestroika the labour market has become less taut. Since cooperative and individual activities draw out of the state sphere the best cadres, the inefficiency of the state economy could increase. Recurrent criticism against cooperatives and price control measures indicate that political and ideological barriers against private enterprise are still considerable.
TL;DR: In this paper, a survey of the literature on the theory of l'intermediation financiere and securitisation is presented, which tente d'identifier dans quelle mesure la securITisation (au sens large) peut reproduire les fonctions implicites a LFI de depot.
Abstract: Cet article est un survey «oriente» de la litterature sur la theorie de l'intermediation financiere et sur la securitisation, qui tente d'identifier dans quelle mesure la securitisation (au sens large) peut reproduire les fonctions implicites a l'intermediation financiere de depot. Comme ces fonctions sont la raison d'etre de cette intermediation, le financement securitise va, sous certaines conditions, dominer la solution bancaire. Des arguments developpes ici, il ressort que, quand le financement est securitise, il sera egalement desintermedie, puisque les fonctions de l'intermediation seront (presque toutes) deja remplies. Parmi ces fonctions, l'accent est particulierement mis sur la production d'information.