Prioritarianism in Practice

This book describes the application of prioritarianism, a philosophical approach that gives extra weight to the well-being of those who are worse off. In welfare economics, it can be implemented in the form of a prioritarian social welfare function (SWF). The SWF framework, unlike benefit-cost analysis, uses interpersonally comparable well-being numbers as the foundation for policy assessment. The book illustrates the application of this approach by an international network of scholars, to advance our understanding its use in specific policy domains.

The chapters include the following:

• Chapter 1. Matthew D. Adler and Ole F. Norheim, “Introduction”
• Chapter 2. Matthew D. Adler, “Theory of Prioritarianism”
• Chapter 3. Matthew D. Adler and Koen Decancq, “Well-being Measurement”
• Chapter 4. Matti Tuomala and Matthew Weinzierl, “Prioritarianism and Optimal Taxation”
• Chapter 5. Koen Decancq and Eric Schokkaert, “Prioritarianism and Measuring Social Progress”
• Chapter 6. Richard Cookson, Ole F. Norheim, and Ieva Skarda, “Prioritarianism and Health Policy”
• Chapter 7. James K. Hammitt and Nicolas Treich, “Prioritarianism and Fatality Risk Regulation”
• Chapter 8. Maddalena Ferranna and Marc Fleurbaey, “Prioritarianism and Climate Change”
• Chapter 9. Erwin Ooghe, “Prioritarianism and Education”
• Chapter 10. Erik Schokkaert and Benoît Tarroux, “Empirical Research on Ethical Preferences: How Popular is Prioritarianism?”
• Chapter 11. Paolo Brunori, Francisco H.G. Ferreira, and Vito Peragine, “Prioritarianism and Equality of Opportunity”
• Chapter 12. David E. Bloom, Maddalena Ferranna, and JP Sevilla, “Prioritarianism and the COVID-19 Pandemic”