Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/70468 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
CAE Working Paper No. 10-05
Publisher: 
Cornell University, Center for Analytical Economics (CAE), Ithaca, NY
Abstract: 
In this paper we re-examine the axiomatic basis of the key result on weighted utilitarian representation of preference orders on finite utility streams. We show that a preference order satisfying the axioms of Minimal Individual Symmetry, Invariance and Strong Pareto need not have a representation, and thus in particular a weighted utilitarian representation. The example establishing this result might also be of interest for the literature on the representation of preference orders. We then establish that whenever a preference order satisfying the axioms of Minimal Individual Symmetry, Invariance and Weak Pareto has a representation, it also has a weighted utilitarian representation. Our approach helps us to view the available results on the weighted utilitarian representation theorem from a different perspective.
Subjects: 
Minimal Individual Symmetry Axiom
Invariance Axiom
Pareto Axiom
Representation of Preference Orders
Weighted Utilitarian Representation
Decomposition of Irrationals
JEL: 
D60
D70
D90
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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