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Econometrica Vol. 71 No. 5 2003

Aggregating Infinite Utility Streams with InterGenerational Equity: The Impossibility of Being Paretian

Kaushik Basu; Tapan Mitra

Cornell University

Abstract

It has been known that, in aggregating infinite utility streams, there does not exist any social welfare function, which satisfies the axioms of Pareto, intergenerational equity, and continuity. We show that the impossibility result persists even without imposing the continuity axiom, and in frameworks allowing for more general domains of utilities than those used in the existing literature.

DOI
10.1111/1468-0262.00458
Volume
71
Issue
5
Pages
1557-1563
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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