Abstract
Stochastic dominance has been typically used with a special emphasis on risk and inequality reduction something captured by the concavity of the utility function in the expected utility model. We claim that the applicability of the stochastic dominance approach goes far beyond risk and inequality measurement provided suitable adaptations be made. We apply in this article the stochastic dominance approach to the measurement of elitism which may be considered the opposite of egalitarianism. While the usual stochastic dominance quasi-orderings attach more value to more equal and more efficient distributions, our criteria ensure that, the more unequal and the more efficient the distribution, the higher it is ranked. Two instances are provided by (i) comparisons of scientific performance across institutions like universities or departments, and (ii) comparisons of affluence as opposed to poverty between countries.
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This paper forms part of the research project, The Multiple Dimensions of Inequality (Contract No. ANR 2010 BLANC 1808) of the French National Agency for Research whose financial support is gratefully acknowledged. Preliminary versions of this article have been presented at the Huitièmes Journées d’Économie Publique Louis-André Gérard-Varet, Marseille, France, 14–15 June 2009 and the Tenth International Meeting of the Society for Social Choice and Welfare, Moscow, Russia, 21–24 July 2010.
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Bazen, S., Moyes, P. Elitism and stochastic dominance. Soc Choice Welf 39, 207–251 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00355-011-0551-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00355-011-0551-4