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1 - Introduction

Prioritarianism in Practice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2022

By
Matthew D. Adler  and
Ole F. Norheim
Edited by
Matthew D. Adler  and
Ole F. Norheim
Matthew D. Adler
Affiliation:
Duke University, North Carolina
Ole F. Norheim
Affiliation:
Universitetet i Bergen, Norway
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Summary

Prioritarianism is a framework for ethical assessment that gives extra weight to the worse off. Unlike utilitarianism, which simply adds up well-being numbers, prioritarianism is sensitive to the distribution of well-being across the population of ethical concern. Prioritarianism in Practice examines the use of prioritarianism as a policy-evaluation methodology – across a range of policy domains, including taxation, health policy, risk regulation, climate change, education, and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic –and as an indicator of a society’s condition (as contrasted with GDP). This chapter is an introductory chapter to the Prioritarianism in Practice volume.It surveys the intellectual roots of prioritarianism: in the philosophical literature, in welfare economics, and in scholarship about public health. And it provides brief summaries of each of the volume’s chapters.

Keywords

prioritarianismutilitarianismpolicy evaluationsocial welfare function (SWF)well-beingdistribution
Type
Chapter
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Prioritarianism in Practice , pp. 1 - 36
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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