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A Welfarist Proof of Arrow’s Theorem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2016

Charles Blackorby ,
David Donaldson  and
John A. Weymark
Charles Blackorby
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
David Donaldson
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
John A. Weymark
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
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Summary

This article presents a proof of Arrow’s Theorem which highlights the theorem’s relationship to welfarism and which emphasizes its underlying geometric structure. In addition, this method of proof is adapted to provide a proof of a single-preference-profile version of Arrow’s Theorem. The relationship between Arrovian social choice theory and Bergson-Samuelson welfare economics is also considered.

Résumé

Résumé

Cet article présente une preuve du théorème d’Arrow, mettant en lumière, d’une part, sa relation au welfarisme et d’autre part, sa structure géométrique. En outre, nous donnons une preuve de la version “profil de préférences unique” du théorème d’Arrow basée sur cette méthode. La relation entre la théorie du choix social d’Arrow et les conceptions du bien-être de Bergson-Samuelson est aussi discutée.

Keywords

024025024025
Type
Research Article
Information
Recherches Économiques de Louvain/ Louvain Economic Review , Volume 56 , Issue 3-4: A Special Issue in Honor of Professor A. Sen : Alternatives to Welfarism , 1990 , pp. 259 - 286
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de recherches économiques et sociales 1990 

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Footnotes

*

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 Université 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.

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