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We propose and axiomatize probability adjusted rank-discounted critical-level generalized utilitarianism (PARDCLU). We thus generalize rank-discounted utilitarianism (RDU) (proposed by Zuber and Asheim, 2012) to variable population and risky situations and thereby take important steps towards preparing RDU for practical use, e.g. for evaluation of climate policies and other policy issues with long-run consequences. We illustrate how PARDCLU yields rank-dependent expected utilitarianism - but with additional structure - in a special case, and show how PARDCLU can handle a situation with positive probability of human extinction.

Discounted utilitarianism treats generations unequally and leads to seemingly unappealing consequences in some models of economic growth. Instead, this paper presents and applies sustainable discounted utilitarianism (SDU). SDU respects the interests of future generations and resolves intergenerational conflicts by imposing on discounted utilitarianism that the evaluation be insensitive to the interests of the present generation if the present is better off than the future. An SDU social welfare function always exists. We provide a convenient sufficient condition to identify SDU optima and apply SDU to two well-known models of economic growth. We also investigate the axiomatic basis for SDU.

This paper summarizes assumptions made and results obtained in parts of the literature on welfare and sustainability accounting. I consider five different assumptions that can be imposed independently of each other, producing 32 different combinations. This taxonomy is used to organize results in welfare and sustainability accounting. The analysis illustrates how stronger results require stronger assumptions and thereby impose harder informational requirements.

We develop a framework for analyzing national income accounting using a revealed welfare approach that is sufficiently general to cover, e.g., both the standard discounted utilitarian and maximin criteria as special cases. We show that the basic welfare properties of comprehensive national income accounting, which were previously ascribed only to the discounted utilitarian case, in fact extend to this more general framework. In particular, it holds under a wide range of circumstances that real NNP growth (or equivalently, a positive value of net investments) indicates welfare improvement. We illustrate the applicability of our approach by considering resource allocation mechanisms in the Dasgupta-Heal-Solow model of capital accumulation and resource depletion.

The authors consider the Hartwick rule for capital accumulation and resource depletion, provide semantic clarifications and investigate whether this rule indicates sustainability and requires substitutability between manmade and natural capital. In addition to shedding light on the meaning of the Hartwick rule by reviewing established results, they establish the following novel finding: the value of net investments being negative does not imply that utility is unsustainable. Throughout the authors make the assumption of a constant technology, without which the Hartwick rule does not apply.

Comparer le bien-être d'économies émergentes Des économies qui ont les mêmes capacités productives peuvent mettre en œuvre des taux de croissance différents. Ceci implique qu'il est insuffisant de baser les comparaisons internationales de bien-être seulement sur le bien-être courant, ou d'introduire le potentiel de croissance future d'une façon arbitraire. Les mesures de type PNN (produit national net) tiennent compte du bien-être courant et du potentiel de croissance d'une façon cohérente. Cet article montre qu'il est important de savoir si différents taux de croissance dans des économies différentes sont dus à des opportunités techniques différentes ou bien à des préférences sociales différentes pour le développement. L'analyse illustre la similitude entre les comparaisons internationales de bien-être et les comparaisons interpersonnelles de bien-être.

Abstract To provide a normative foundation for transfers between different economies, one needs information on their 'per capita welfare.' This paper considers various methods for doing this and reaches the following conclusions: (i) Such global welfare comparisons are more demanding than usually thought. (ii) The ranking of methods differs from that of local (over‐time) comparisons, with real comprehensive per capita NNP being the least impractical method. The lesson is that global welfare comparisons should be performed with great care. The comparisons must be made in local real prices calculated according to 'purchasing‐power‐parity,' where non‐traded environmental amenities play an important role.

This paper contains a critical assessment of the claim that NNP can be used for welfare comparisons. The analysis assumes that national accounts are comprehensive (in particular 'greened' by taking into account environmental amenities and natural resource depletion), but does not assume optimal resource allocation. The general conclusion is that greater NNP corresponds to welfare enhancement only if net investment flows are revalued. Real utility-NNP and real measurable NNP made comparable across time by means of a consumer price index allow for such revaluation, and thus indicate welfare improvement.

AbstractThis paper summarizes assumptions made and results obtained in parts of the literature on welfare and sustainability accounting. I consider five different assumptions that can be imposed independently of each other, producing 32 different combinations. This taxonomy is used to organize results in welfare and sustainability accounting. The analysis illustrates how stronger results require stronger assumptions and thereby impose harder informational requirements.

This paper summarizes assumptions made & results obtained in parts of the literature on welfare & sustainability accounting. I consider five different assumptions that can be imposed independently of each other, producing 32 different combinations. This taxonomy is used to organize results in welfare & sustainability accounting. The analysis illustrates how stronger results require stronger assumptions & thereby impose harder informational requirements. 32 References. Adapted from the source document.