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Freedom of choice

A comparison of different rankings of opportunity sets

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Abstract

Inspired by the discussion of different functions of freedom of choice (instrumental versus intrinsic value) by Sen and others and an axiomatic characterization of an intrinsic aspect by Pattanaik and Xu, we compare unique axiomatic characterizations of three classes of rankings of opportunity sets in terms of freedom of choice: First, we investigate the simple cardinality-based ranking proposed by Pattanaik and Xu and a generalization of this. Secondly, we propose a new criterion that is based on the comparison of the ranges of sets of options. Thirdly, we solve possibly occuring conflicts between these two criteria.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fachbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Universität Osnabrück, Postfach 4469, 49034, Osnabrück, Germany

    Marlies Klemisch-Ahlert

Authors
  1. Marlies Klemisch-Ahlert
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Additional information

I am indebted to Wulf Gaertner, Yongsheng Xu, Walter Bossert, the participants of the Economic Theory Workshop of the University of Rochester, and anonymous referees for helpful discussions and comments. Financial support by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft is gratefully acknowledged.

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Klemisch-Ahlert, M. Freedom of choice. Soc Choice Welfare 10, 189–207 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00182505

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00182505

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