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From the “Value of Life” to the Economics and Ethics of Population: the Path is Purely Methodological

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2016

Jacques H. Drèze
Jacques H. Drèze*
Affiliation:
Université Catholique de Louvain
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Summary

The paper discusses the relationship between two problems, namely: (i) assigning a value to reduction in death probabilities, i.e. defining a « value of life », and (ii) assigning a value to changes in population, i.e. defining guidelines for the ethics and economics of population. While, for Broome, “in one sense, prolonging a person’s life and adding a new person to the world are alternative ways of doing the same things”, this paper argues that the two problems are quite distinct, in the sense that a precise answer to the first provides no guide live at all for second, and conversely. There is no inconsinstency in providing safety according to a high “value of life” while giving population growth a negative value. But there is a methodological link: both problemes have a public choice dimension, and can therefore be approached along parallel methodological lines. With respect to the economics and ethics of population, the paper offers some defense of the Pareto criterion among the living, and comments on the practice and theory of social choise.

Résumé

Résumé

L’article discute le lien entre deux problèmes : (i) donner une valeur à des réductions de probabilité de décès, c.à.d. définir une « valeur de la vie humaine » ; et (ii) donner une valeur à des changements de population, c.à.d. fonder une analyse éthique et économique de la démographie. Alors que, pour Broome, « en un sens, prolonger l’existence d’un vivant ou ajouter un nouveau né à la population mondiale représentent deux façons alternatives de faire la même chose », cet article soutient que les deux problèmes sont nettement distincts en ce sens qu’une réponse précise au premier ne fournit aucune indication pour le second, et vice-versa. Il n’est pas incohérent de promouvoir la sécurité conformément à une valeur élevée de la vie humaine, tout en attachant une valeur négative à la croissance démographique. Mais il existe un lien méthodologique: les deux problèmes relèvent du choix social, et à ce titre d’approches méthodologiques parallèles. Concernant l’analyse éthique et économique de la démographie, l’article défend le critère de Pareto entre vivants, et discute la pratique et la théorie du choix social.

Keywords

025841851025841851
Type
Research Article
Information
Recherches Économiques de Louvain/ Louvain Economic Review , Volume 58 , Issue 2 , 1992 , pp. 147 - 166
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de recherches économiques et sociales 1992 

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Footnotes

(*)

This paper is an extended version of my discussion of Broome (1992) at the Symposium on the Value of Life, Louvain-la-Neuve, December 1991. I thank Philippe Van Parijs for inviting me to discuss Broome’s paper at the Symposium and for suggesting many improvements to the written presentation.

References

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