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Little and Bergson on Arrow’s concept of social welfare. (English) Zbl 1132.91307

Summary: The paper revisits a debate regarding Arrow’s concept of social welfare that took place shortly after the publication of his book, Social Choice and Individual Values. It is argued that several points made by Little and Bergson in that debate nearly fifty years ago may still be helpful in understanding Arrow’s contribution. The paper interprets the aspect of social welfare emphasized by Little and Bergson and the aspect emphasized by Arrow in terms of two distinct phases of decision-making in a liberal democracy.

MSC:

91-06 Proceedings, conferences, collections, etc. pertaining to game theory, economics, and finance
91B14 Social choice
00B15 Collections of articles of miscellaneous specific interest
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