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Econometrica, Vol. 78, No. 6 (November, 2010), 1939–1971
GENERALIZED UTILITARIANISM AND HARSANYI’S IMPARTIAL
OBSERVER THEOREM
SIMON GRANT
Rice University, Houston, TX 77005, U.S.A. and School of Economics,
University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia
ATSUSHI KAJII
Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
BEN POLAK
Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8268, U.S.A.
ZVI SAFRA
Business School, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4ST, U.K.,
The College of Management, and Tel Aviv University, Israel
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Econometrica, Vol. 78, No. 6 (November, 2010), 1939–1971
GENERALIZED UTILITARIANISM AND HARSANYI’S IMPARTIAL
OBSERVER THEOREM1
BYSIMON GRANT,ATSUSHI KAJII,BEN POLAK,AND ZVI SAFRA
Harsanyi’s impartial observer must consider two types of lotteries: imaginary identity
lotteries (“accidents of birth”) that she faces as herself and the real outcome lotteries
(“life chances”) to be faced by the individuals she imagines becoming. If we maintain
a distinction between identity and outcome lotteries, then Harsanyi-like axioms yield
generalized utilitarianism, and allow us to accommodate concerns about different indi-
viduals’ risk attitudes and concerns about fairness. Requiring an impartial observer to
be indifferent as to which individual should face similar risks restricts her social welfare
function, but still allows her to accommodate fairness. Requiring an impartial observer
to be indifferent between identity and outcome lotteries, however, forces her to ignore
both fairness and different risk attitudes, and yields a new axiomatization of Harsanyi’s
utilitarianism.
KEYWORDS: Generalized utilitarianism, impartial observer, social welfare function,
fairness, ex ante egalitarianism.
1. INTRODUCTION
THIS PAPER REVISITS HARSANYI’S(1953, 1955, 1977) utilitarian impartial ob-
server theorem. Consider a society of individuals IThe society has to choose
among different social policies, each of which induces a probability distribution
or lottery over a set of social outcomes X. Each individual ihas preferences
iover these lotteries. These preferences are known and they differ.
To help choose among social policies, Harsanyi proposed that each individ-
ual should imagine herself as an “impartial observer” who does not know which
person she will be. That is, the impartial observer faces not only the real lottery
over the social outcomes in X, but also a hypothetical lottery zover which
identity in Ishe will assume. In forming preferences over all such extended
lotteries, an impartial observer is forced to make interpersonal comparisons:
for example, she is forced to compare being person iin social state xwith being
person jin social state x.
Harsanyi assumed the so-called acceptance principle; that is, when an impar-
tial observer imagines herself being person i, she adopts person i’s preferences
over the outcome lotteries. He also assumed that all individuals are expected
utility maximizers and that they continue to be so in the role of the impar-
tial observer. Harsanyi argued that these “Bayesian rationality” axioms force
1We thank John Broome, Jurgen Eichberger, Marc Fleurbaey, Edi Karni, Bart Lipman,
Philippe Mongin, Stephen Morris, Heve Moulin, Klaus Nehring, David Pearce, John Quiggin,
John Roemer, John Weymark, three referees, and a co-editor for many helpful comments. At-
sushi Kajii thanks Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research S (Grant 90152298) and the Inamori
Foundation for support. Zvi Safra thanks the Israel Science Foundation (Grant 1299/05) and
the Henry Crown Institute of Business Research for support.
© 2010 The Econometric Society DOI: 10.3982/ECTA6712
1940 GRANT, KAJII, POLAK, AND SAFRA
the impartial observer to be a (weighted) utilitarian. More formally, over all
extended lotteries (z ) in which the identity lottery and the outcome lotter-
ies are independently distributed, the impartial observer’s preferences admit a
representation of the form
V(z)=
i
ziUi()(1)
where ziis the probability of assuming person i’s identity and Ui() :=
Xui(x)(dx) is person i’s von Neumann–Morgenstern expected utility for the
outcome lottery . Where no confusion arises, we will omit the “weighted” and
refer to the representation in (1) simply as utilitarianism.2
Harsanyi’s utilitarianism has attracted many criticisms. We confront just two:
one concerning fairness and one concerning different attitudes toward risk.
To illustrate both criticisms, consider two individuals iand j, and two social
outcomes xiand xj. Person istrictly prefers outcome xito outcome xj,but
person jstrictly prefers xjto xi. Perhaps there is some (possibly indivisible)
good and xiis the state in which person igets the good, while xjis the state
in which person jgets it. Suppose that an impartial observer would be indif-
ferent between being person iin state xiand being person jin state xj; hence
ui(xi)=uj(xj)=: uH. She is also indifferent between being iin xjand being
jin xi; hence ui(xj)=uj(xi)=: uL. Additionally, she strictly prefers the first
pair (having the good) to the second (not having the good); hence uH>u
L.
The concern about fairness is similar to Diamond’s (1967)critiqueof
Harsanyi’s aggregation theorem. Consider the two extended lotteries illus-
trated in tables (a) and (b) in which rows are the people and columns are the
outcomes:
xixj
i1/2 0
j1/2 0
(a)
xixj
i1/4 1/4
j1/4 1/4
(b)
In each, the impartial observer has a half chance of being person ior per-
son j. But in table (a), the good is simply given outright to person i: outcome
2Some writers (e.g., Sen (1970, 1977), Weym a r k (1991), Mongin (2001, 2002)) reserve the term
utilitarianism for social welfare functions in which all the zi’s are equal and the Ui’s are welfares,
not just von Neumann–Morgenstern utilities. Harsanyi claimed that impartial observers should
assess social policies using equal ziweights, and that von Neumann–Morgenstern utilities should
be identified with welfares. Harsanyi (1977, pp. 57–60) conceded that his axioms do not force
all potential impartial observers to agree in their extended preferences. Nevertheless, he claimed
that, given enough information about “the individuals’ psychological, biological and cultural char-
acteristics,” all impartial observers would agree. These extra claims are not the focus of this paper,
but we will return to the issues of agreement and welfare in Section 7.
GENERALIZED UTILITARIANISM 1941
xihas probability 1. In table (b), the good is allocated by tossing a coin: the
outcomes xiand xjeach have probability 1/2. Diamond argued that a fair-
minded person might prefer the second allocation policy since it gives each
person a “fair shake.”3But Harsanyi’s utilitarian impartial observer is indiffer-
ent to such considerations of fairness. Each policy (or its associated extended
lottery) involves a half chance of getting the good and hence yields the im-
partial observer 1
2uH+1
2uL. The impartial observer cares only about her total
chance of getting the good, not how this chance is distributed between person
iand person j.
The concern about different risk attitudes is less familiar.4Consider the two
extended lotteries illustrated in tables (c) and (d):
xixj
i1/2 1/2
j0 0
(c)
xixj
i0 0
j1/2 1/2
(d)
In each, the impartial observer has a half chance of being in state xior state
xj, and hence a half chance of getting the good. But in (c), the impartial ob-
server faces this risk as person i, while in (d), she faces the risk as person j.
Suppose that person iis more comfortable facing such a risk than is person j.5
Harsanyi’s utilitarian impartial observer is indifferent to such considerations of
risk attitude. Each of the extended lotteries (c) and (d) again yields 1
2uH+1
2uL.
Thus, Harsanyi’s impartial observer does not care who faces this risk.
In his own response to the concern about fairness, Harsanyi (1975) argued
that even if randomizations were of value for promoting fairness (which he
doubted), any explicit randomization is superfluous since “the great lottery of
(pre-)life” may be viewed as having already given each child an equal chance of
being each individual. That is, for Harsanyi, it does not matter whether a good
is allocated by a (possibly imaginary) lottery over identities as in table (a), or
3Societies often use both simple lotteries and weighted lotteries to allocate goods (and bads),
presumably for fairness considerations. Examples include the draft, kidney machines, oversub-
scribed events, schools, and public housing, and even whom should be thrown out of a lifeboat!
For a long list and an enlightening discussion, see Elster (1989).
4Pattanaik (1968) remarked that in reducing an identity-outcome lottery to a one-stage lottery,
“what we are actually doing is to combine attitudes to risk of more than one person” (pp. 1165–
1166).
5To make this notion of greater “comfort” concrete, suppose that both people have certainty
equivalents for the risk of a half chance of being in states xior xj—call these certainty equiva-
lents yiand yj, respectively—and suppose that, according to the interpersonal comparisons of the
impartial observer, person jis prepared to give up more than person ito remove this risk: that
is, the impartial observer would prefer to be person iwith yithan person jwith yj.Inthiscase,
by the definition of a certainty equivalent, the acceptance principle, and transitivity, the impartial
observer would prefer to face the risk of a half chance of being in states xior xjas person ithan
as person j.
1942 GRANT, KAJII, POLAK, AND SAFRA
by a (real) lottery over outcomes as in table (c), or by some combination of the
two as in table (b). The dispute about fairness thus seems to rest on whether we
are indeed indifferent between identity and outcome lotteries; that is, between
“accidents of birth” and real “life chances.” For Harsanyi, they are equivalent,
but for those concerned about fairness, genuine life chances might be preferred
to mere accidents of birth.6
If we regard outcome and identity lotteries as equivalent, there is little scope
left to accommodate different risk attitudes of different individuals. For exam-
ple, the outcome lottery in table (c) would be indifferent to the identity lottery
in table (a) even though the risk in the first is faced by person iand the risk in
the second is faced by the impartial observer. Similarly, the outcome lottery in
(d) would be indifferent to the identity lottery in (a). Hence the two outcome
lotteries (c) and (d) must be indifferent even though one is faced by person i
and the other by person j. In effect, indifference between outcome and iden-
tity lotteries treats all risks as if they were faced by one agent, the impartial
observer: it forces us to conflate the risk attitudes of individuals with those of
the impartial observer herself. But Harsanyi’s own acceptance principle states
that when the impartial observer imagines herself as person i, she should adopt
person i’s preferences over the outcome lotteries faced by person i.Thissug-
gests that different lotteries perhaps should not be treated as equivalent if they
are faced by different people with possibly different risk attitudes.
We want to make explicit the possibility that an impartial observer might
distinguish between the identity lotteries (I)she faces and the outcome lot-
teries (X)faced by the indviduals. Harsanyi’s impartial observer is assumed
to form preferences over the entire set of joint distributions (I×X)over
identities and outcomes. In such a setup, it is hard to distinguish outcome from
identity lotteries since the resolution of identity can partially or fully resolve
the outcome. For example, the impartial observer could face a joint distribu-
tion in which, if she becomes person i, then society holds the outcome lottery
, but if she becomes person j, then social outcome xobtains for sure. To keep
this distinction clean, we restrict attention to product lotteries (I)×(X).
That is, the impartial observer only forms preferences over extended lotteries
in which the outcome lottery she faces is the same regardless of which identity
she assumes. That said, our restriction to product lotteries is for conceptual
clarity only and is not essential for the main results.7
Harsanyi’s assumption that identity and outcome lotteries are equivalent is
implicit. Suppose that, without imposing such an equivalence, we impose each
of Harsanyi’s three main assumptions: that if the impartial observer imagines
being individual i,sheaccepts the preferences of that individual; that each in-
dividual satisfies independence over the lotteries he faces (which are outcome
6This could be seen as an example of what Ergin and Gul (2009) called issue or source prefer-
ence.
7See Section 6.
GENERALIZED UTILITARIANISM 1943
lotteries); and that the impartial observer satisfies independence over the lotter-
ies she faces (which are identity lotteries). Notice that, by acceptance, the im-
partial observer inherits independence over outcome lotteries. But this is not
enough to force us to the (weighted) utilitarianism of expression (1). Instead
(Theorem 1), we obtain a generalized (weighted) utilitarian representation:
V(z)=
i
ziφi(Ui())(2)
where ziis again the probability of assuming person i’s identity and Ui() is
again person i’s expected utility from the outcome lottery , but each φi(·)is a
(possibly nonlinear) transformation of person i’s expected utility. Generalized
utilitarianism is well known to welfare economists, but has not before been
given foundations in the impartial-observer framework.8
Generalized utilitarianism can accommodate concerns about fairness if the
φifunctions are concave.9Harsanyi’s utilitarianism can be thought of as the
special case where each φiis affine. The discussion above suggests that these
differences about fairness involve preferences between identity and outcome
lotteries. The framework allows us to formalize this intuition: we show that a
generalized utilitarian impartial observer has concave φifunctions if and only
if she has a preference for outcome lotteries over identity lotteries (i.e., a pref-
erence for life chances), and she is a utilitarian if and only if she is indifferent
between outcome and identity lotteries (i.e., indifferent between life chances
and accidents of birth).10
Generalized utilitarianism can accommodate concerns about different risk
attitudes simply by allowing the φifunctions to differ in their degree of con-
cavity or convexity.11 In the example above, the impartial observer first assessed
equal welfares to being person iin state xior person jin state xj,andequal
welfares to being iin xjor jin xi. The issue of different risk attitudes seemed to
rest on whether such equal welfares implies equal von Neumann–Morgenstern
utilities. We show that a generalized utilitarian impartial observer uses the
8For example, see Blackorby, Bossert, and Donaldson (2005, Chap. 4) and Blackorby, Donald-
son, and Mongin (2004). Both obtained similar representations for aggregating utility vectors; the
former from Gorman-like separability assumptions; the latter by assuming consistency between
evaluations based on the ex post social welfares and those based on ex ante utilities. See also
Blackorby, Donaldson, and Weymark (1999).
9In our story, we have φi(ui(xi)) =φj(uj(xj)) > φi(ui(xj)) =φj(uj(xi)).Thus,iftheφ
functions are strictly concave, the impartial observer evaluation of allocation policy (c) is
φi(1
2ui(xi)+1
2ui(xj)) > 1
2φi(ui(xi)) +1
2φi(ui(xj)) =1
2φi(ui(xi)) +1
2φj(uj(xi)), her evaluation
of policy (a). The argument comparing (b) and (a) is similar.
10This provides a new axiomatization of Harsanyi’s utilitarianism that is distinct from, for ex-
ample, Karni and Weymark (1998) or Safra and Weissengrin (2003).
11For example, if φiis strictly concave but φjis linear, then the impartial observer’s evaluation
of policy (c) φi(1
2ui(xi)+1
2ui(xj)) > 1
2φi(ui(xi)) +1
2φi(ui(xj)) =1
2φj(uj(xj)) +1
2φj(uj(xi)) =
φj(1
2uj(xj)+1
2uj(xi)), her evaluation of policy (d).
1944 GRANT, KAJII, POLAK, AND SAFRA
same φfunction for all people (implying the same mapping from their von
Neumann–Morgenstern utilities to her welfare assessments) if and only if she
would be indifferent as to which person to be when facing such similar risks.
Where does Harsanyi implicitly assume both indifference between life
chances and accidents of births, and indifference between individuals facing
similar risks? Harsanyi’s independence axiom goes further than ours in two
ways. First, in our case, the impartial observer inherits independence over
outcome lotteries indirectly (via acceptance) from individuals’ preferences. In
contrast, Harsanyi’s axiom imposes independence over outcome lotteries di-
rectly on the impartial observer. We will see that this direct imposition forces
the impartial observer to be indifferent as to which individual faces similar
risks. Second, Harsanyi’s independence axiom extends to randomizations that
simultaneously mix outcome and identity lotteries. We will see that this as-
sumption forces the impartial observer to be indifferent between these two
types of randomization, and this in turn precludes concern for fairness.
Earlier attempts to accommodate fairness considerations focussed on drop-
ping independence. For example, Karni and Safra (2002) relaxed indepen-
dence for the individual preferences, while Epstein and Segal (1992) relaxed
independence for the impartial observer.12 Our approach maintains indepen-
dence for each agent but restricts its domain to the lotteries faced by that agent.
Section 2sets up the framework. Section 3axiomatizes generalized utilitar-
ianism. Section 4deals with concerns about fairness. We show that the im-
partial observer ignoring these concerns is equivalent to her being indifferent
between identity and outcome lotteries. This yields a new axiomatization of
Harsanyi’s utilitarianism. Section 5deals with concerns about different risk at-
titudes. Section 6first shows how to extend our analysis to the entire set of
joint distributions (I×X)over identities and outcomes. We then show how
Harsanyi’s independence axiom restricted to our domain of product lotteries,
(I)×(X), implies our independence axiom and both of our indifference
conditions: indifference between outcome and identity lotteries, and indiffer-
ence as to who faces similar risks. Section 7considers four possible views (in-
cluding the one taken in this paper) for the role of the impartial observer. For
each view we ask “What are the knowledge requirements for the impartial ob-
server” and “Must all potential impartial observers agree in their preferences
over extended lotteries?” Then we relate these to the issues of fairness and dif-
ferent risk attitudes. Proofs are given in the Appendix A. Appendix Bcontains
additional examples and discussion.
12Strictly speaking, Epstein and Segal’s paper is in the context of Harsanyi’s (1955) aggregation
theorem. In addition, Broome (1991) addressed fairness concerns by expanding the outcome
space to include the means of allocation (e.g., the use of a physical randomization device) as part
of the description of the final outcome.
GENERALIZED UTILITARIANISM 1945
2. SETUP AND NOTATION
Let society consist of a finite set of individuals I={1I},I≥2, with
generic elements iand j. The set of social outcomes is denoted by Xwith
generic element x. The set Xis assumed to have more than one element and
to be a compact metrizable space that has associated with it the set of events
E, which is taken to be the Borel sigma algebra of X.Let(X)(with generic
element ) denote the set of outcome lotteries; that is, the set of probability
measures on (XE)endowed with the weak convergence topology. These lot-
teries represent the risks actually faced by each individual in his or her life.
With slight abuse of notation, we will let xor sometimes [x]denote the degen-
erate outcome lottery that assigns probability weight 1 to social state x.
Each individual iin Iis endowed with a preference relation idefined over
the set of life chances (X). We assume throughout that for each iin I, the
preference relation iis a complete, transitive binary relation on (X)and
that its asymmetric part iis nonempty. We assume these preferences are con-
tinuous in that weak upper and weak lower contour sets are closed. Hence for
each ithere exists a nonconstant function Vi:(X)→R, that satisfies, for
any and in (X),Vi() ≥Vi()if and only if i. In summary, a society
may be characterized by the tuple XI{i}i∈I.
In Harsanyi’s story, the impartial observer imagines herself behind a veil of
ignorance, uncertain about which identity she will assume in the given society.
Let (I)denote the set of identity lotteries on I.Letzdenote the typical ele-
ment of (I)and let zidenote the probability assigned by the identity lottery
zto individual i. These lotteries represent the imaginary risks in the mind of
the impartial observer of being born as someone else. With slight abuse of no-
tation, we will let ior sometimes [i]denote the degenerate identity lottery that
assigns probability weight 1 to the impartial observer assuming the identity of
individual i.
As discussed above, we assume that the outcome and identity lotteries faced
by the impartial observer are independently distributed; that is, she faces a
product lottery (z ) ∈(I)×(X). We sometimes refer to this as a prod-
uct identity-outcome lottery or, where no confusion arises, simply as a product
lottery.
Fix an impartial observer endowed with a preference relation defined
over (I)×(X). We assume throughout that is complete, transitive con-
tinuous (in that weak upper and weak lower contour sets are closed in the
product topology), and that its asymmetric part is nonempty, so it admits
a (nontrivial) continuous representation V:(I)×(X)→R. That is, for
any pair of product lotteries (z ) and (z
),(z ) (z
)if and only if
V(z)≥V(z
).
DEFINITION 1 —Utilitarianism: We say that the impartial observer is a
(weighted)utilitarian if her preferences admit a representation {Ui}i∈Iof
1946 GRANT, KAJII, POLAK, AND SAFRA
the form
V(z)=
I
i=1
ziUi()
where, for each individual iin I,Ui:(X)→Ris a von Neumann–Morgen-
stern expected-utility representation of i; that is, Ui() := Xui(x)(dx).
DEFINITION 2—Generalized Utilitarianism: We say that the impartial ob-
server is a generalized (weighted)utilitarian if her preferences admit a repre-
sentation {Uiφ
i}i∈Iof the form
V(z)=
I
i=1
ziφi[Ui()]
where, for each individual iin I,φi:R→Ris a continuous, increasing function
and Ui:(X)→Ris a von Neumann–Morgenstern expected-utility represen-
tation of i.
3. GENERALIZED UTILITARIANISM
In this section, we axiomatize generalized utilitarianism. The first axiom is
Harsanyi’s acceptance principle. In degenerate product lotteries of the form
(i ) or (i ), the impartial observer knows she will assume identity ifor sure.
The acceptance principle requires that, in this case, the impartial observer’s
preferences must coincide with that individual’s preferences iover out-
come lotteries.
AXIOM 1—Acceptance Principle: For al l iin Iand all ∈(X),iif
and only if (i ) (i ).
Second, we assume that each individual i’s preferences satisfy the indepen-
dence axiom for the lotteries he faces; that is, outcome lotteries.
AXIOM 2—Independence Over Outcome Lotteries (for Individual i): Sup-
pose ,∈(X)are such that ∼i.Then,for all ˜
,˜
∈(X),˜
i˜
if and
only if α˜
+(1−α) iα˜
+(1−α)for all αin (01].
Third, we assume that the impartial observer’s preferences satisfy indepen-
dence for the lotteries she faces; that is, identity lotteries. Here, however, we
need to be careful. The set of product lotteries (I)×(X)is not a convex
GENERALIZED UTILITARIANISM 1947
subset of (I×X)and hence not all probability mixtures of product lotteries
are well defined. Thus, we adopt the following notion of independence.13
AXIOM 3—Independence Over Identity Lotteries (for the Impartial Ob-
server): Suppose (z ),(z
)∈(I)×(X)are such that (z ) ∼(z
).
Then,for all ˜
z,˜
z∈(I),(˜
z) (˜
z
)if and only if (α˜
z+(1−α)z )
(α˜
z+(1−α)z
)for all αin (01].
To understand this axiom, first notice that the two mixtures on the right side
of the implication are identical to α(˜
z) +(1−α)(z ) and α(˜
z
)+(1−
α)(z
), respectively. These two mixtures of product lotteries are well de-
fined: they mix identity lotteries that hold the outcome lottery fixed. Second,
notice that the two product lotteries, (z ) and (z
), that are mixed in with
weight (1−α) are themselves indifferent. The axiom states that mixing in two
indifferent lotteries (with equal weight) preserves the original preference be-
tween (˜
z) and (˜
z
)prior to mixing. Finally, notice that this axiom only
applies to mixtures of identity lotteries that hold the outcome lotteries fixed,
not to the opposite case: mixtures of outcome lotteries that hold the identity
lotteries fixed.
To obtain our representation results, we work with a richness condition on
the domain of individual preferences: we assume that none of the outcome
lotteries under consideration is Pareto dominated.
CONDITION 1—Absence of Unanimity: For all ∈(X),ififor
some iin I, then there exists jin Isuch that j.
This condition is perhaps a natural restriction in the context of Harsanyi’s
thought experiment. That exercise is motivated by the need to make social
choices when agents disagree. We do not need to imagine ourselves as impar-
tial observers facing an identity lottery to rule out social alternatives that are
Pareto dominated.14
These axioms are enough to yield a generalized utilitarian representation.
THEOREM 1—Generalized Utilitarianism: Suppose that absence of unanim-
ity applies.Then the impartial observer’s preferences admit a generalized utili-
tarian representation {Uiφ
i}i∈Iif and only if the impartial observer satisfies the
13This axiom is based on Fishburn’s (1982, p. 88) and Safra and Weissengrin’s (2003)substi-
tution axioms for product lottery spaces. Their axioms, however, apply wherever probability mix-
tures are well defined in this space. We only allow mixtures of identity lotteries. In this respect,
our axiom is similar to Karni and Safra’s (2000) “constrained independence” axiom, but their
axiom applies to all joint distributions over identities and outcomes, not just to product lotteries.
14In Harsanyi’s thought experiment, Pareto dominated lotteries would never be chosen by the
impartial observer since the combination of the acceptance principle and Harsanyi’s stronger
independence axioms implies the Pareto criterion. We are grateful to a referee for making this
point.
1948 GRANT, KAJII, POLAK, AND SAFRA
acceptance principle and independence over identity lotteries,and each individual
satisfies independence over outcome lotteries.
Moreover the functions Uiare unique up to positive affine transformations and
the composite functions φi◦Uiare unique up to a common positive affine trans-
formation.
Grant, Kajii, Polak, and Safra (2006, Theorem 8) showed that without ab-
sence of unanimity, we still obtain a generalized utilitarian representation, but
we lose the uniqueness of the composite functions φi◦Ui. Notice that although
the representation of each individual’s preferences Uiis affine in outcome lot-
teries, in general, the representation of the impartial observer’s preferences V
is not.
4. FAIRNESS OR EX ANTE EGALITARIANISM
So far we have placed no restriction on the shape of the φifunctions except
that they are increasing. In a standard utilitarian social welfare function, each
uifunction maps individual i’s income to an individual utility. These incomes
differ across people, and concavity of the uifunctions is associated with egal-
itarianism over incomes. In a generalized utilitarian social welfare function,
each φifunction maps individual i’s expected utility Ui() to a utility of the
impartial observer. These expected utilities differ across people, and concav-
ity of the φifunctions is associated with egalitarianism over expected utilities,
which is often called ex ante egalitarianism.15
We will show that concavity of the φifunctions is equivalent to an axiom that
generalizes the example in the Introduction. The example involved two indif-
ference sets of the impartial observer: one that contains (i xi)and (j xj)and
one that contains (i xj)and (j xi). We argued that a preference for fairness
corresponds to preferring a randomization between these indifference sets in
outcome lotteries to a randomization in identity lotteries. To generalize, sup-
pose the impartial observer is indifferent between (z )and (z), and con-
sider the product lottery (z ) that (in general) lies in a different indifference
set. There are two ways to randomize between these indifference sets while re-
maining in the set of product lotteries. The product lottery (z α +(1−α))
randomizes between these indifference sets in outcome lotteries (i.e., real life
chances), while the product lottery (αz +(1−α)z) randomizes between
these indifference sets in identity lotteries (i.e., imaginary accidents of birth).
15See, for example, Broome (1984), Myerson (1981), Hammond (1981, 1982), and Meyer
(1991). In our context, it is perhaps better to call this interim egalitarianism since it refers to
distributions after the resolution of the identity lottery but before the resolution of the outcome
lottery. We can contrast this with a concern for ex post inequality of individuals’ welfare; see, for
example, Fleurbaey (2007).
GENERALIZED UTILITARIANISM 1949
AXIOM 4—Preference for Life Chances: For any pair of identity lotteries zand
zin (I),and any pair of outcome lotteries and in (X),if (z )∼(z),
then (z α +(1−α))(αz +(1−α)z) for all αin (01).
If we add this axiom to the conditions of Theorem 1, then we obtain concave
generalized utilitarianism.
PROPOSITION 2—Concavity: Suppose that absence of unanimity applies.
A generalized utilitarian impartial observer with representation {Uiφ
i}i∈Iex-
hibits preference for life chances if and only if each of the φifunctions is concave.
This result does rely on there being some richness in the underlying prefer-
ences so that preference for life chances has bite. In particular, Example 2in
Appendix Bshows that if all agents agree in their ranking of all outcome lot-
teries, then the φi’s need not be concave. This is ruled out in the proposition
by absence of unanimity.
As discussed, Harsanyi treated identity and outcome lotteries as equivalent.
Hence he implicitly imposed the following indifference.
AXIOM 4∗—Indifference Between Life Chances and Accidents of Birth: For
any pair of identity lotteries zand zin (I),and any pair of outcome lotteries
and in (X),if (z )∼(z),then (z α +(1−α))∼(αz +(1−α)z)
for all αin (01).
This is a very strong assumption. If we impose this indifference as an ex-
plicit axiom, then as a corollary of Proposition 2, we obtain that each φifunc-
tion must be affine. In this case, if we let ˆ
Ui:= φi◦Ui, then ˆ
Uiis itself a
von Neumann–Morgenstern expected-utility representation of i.Thus,we
immediately obtain Harsanyi’s utilitarian representation. In fact, we obtain a
stronger result. This indifference over the type of randomization allows us to
dispense with the independence axiom over outcome lotteries for the individ-
uals.
THEOREM 3—Utilitarianism: Suppose that absence of unanimity applies.The
impartial observer’s preferences admit a utilitarian representation {Ui}i∈Iif
and only if the impartial observer satisfies the acceptance principle and indepen-
dence over identity lotteries,and is indifferent between life chances and accidents
of birth.Moreover,the functions Uiare unique up to common positive affine trans-
formations.
Standard proofs of Harsanyi’s utilitarianism directly impose stronger notions
of independence16; for example, the following axiom is usually imposed.
16See Section 6for details.
1950 GRANT, KAJII, POLAK, AND SAFRA
AXIOM 5—Independence Over Outcome Lotteries (for the Impartial Ob-
server): Suppose (z ),(z
)∈(I)×(X)are such that (z ) ∼(z
).
Then for all ˜
,˜
∈(X),(z ˜
) (z˜
)if and only if (z α ˜
+(1−a))
(zα˜
+(1−a))for all αin (01].
This axiom is the symmetric analog of Axiom 3, identity independence for
the impartial observer, with the roles of identity and outcome lotteries re-
versed. Clearly, if the impartial observer satisfies this independence, then it
would be redundant for her to inherit independence over outcome lotteries
from individual preferences. Moreover, given acceptance, this independence
for the impartial observer imposes independence on the individuals. We do
not directly impose independence over outcome lotteries on the impartial ob-
server, but our axioms imply it.
COROLLARY 4: Suppose that absence of unanimity applies.Then the impartial
observer satisfies independence over outcome lotteries if she satisfies acceptance
and independence over identity lotteries,and is indifferent between life chances
and accidents of birth.
In summary, what separates Harsanyi from those generalized utilitarian im-
partial observers who are ex ante egalitarians is their preferences between out-
come and identity lotteries. If the impartial observer prefers outcome lotter-
ies, she is an ex ante egalitarian. If she is indifferent (like Harsanyi), then she
is a utilitarian. Moreover, indifference between outcome and identity lotteries
forces the generalized utilitarian to accept stronger notions of independence.
5. DIFFERENT RISK ATTITUDES
Recall that an impartial observer’s interpersonal welfare comparisons might
rank (i xi)∼(j xj)and (i xj)∼(j xi),butifpersoniis more comfortable
facing risk than person j,shemightrank(i 1
2[xi]+1
2[xj])(j 1
2[xi]+1
2[xj]).
Harsanyi’s utilitarianism rules this out.
An analogy might be useful. In the standard representative-agent model of
consumption over time, each time period is assigned one utility function. This
utility function must reflect both risk aversion in that period and substitutions
between periods. Once utilities are scaled for intertemporal welfare compar-
isons, there is limited scope to accommodate different risk attitudes across pe-
riods. Harsanyi’s utilitarian impartial observer assigns one utility function per
person. This utility function must reflect both the risk aversion of that person
and substitutions between people. Once utilities are scaled for interpersonal
welfare comparisons, there is limited scope to accommodate different risk at-
titudes across people.
GENERALIZED UTILITARIANISM 1951
Given this analogy, it is not surprising that generalized utilitarianism can
accommodate different risk attitudes. Each person is now assigned two func-
tions, φiand ui, so we can separate interpersonal welfare comparisons from
risk aversion.
To be more precise, we first generalize the example in the Introduction.
DEFINITION 3—Similar Risks: Suppose the impartial observer assesses
(i ) ∼(j )and (i ˜
) ∼(j ˜
). Then, for all αin (01), the two outcome
lotteries α˜
+(1−α) and α˜
+(1−α)are similar risks for individuals iand
j, respectively.
These risks are similar for iand jin that they are across outcome lotteries
that the impartial observer has assessed to have equal welfare for individuals i
and j, respectively. If individual jis more risk averse than individual i,wemight
expect the impartial observer to prefer to face these similar risks as person i.
DEFINITION 4—Preference to Face Similar Risks as iRather Than j:Fixa
pair of individuals iand jin I. The impartial observer is said to prefer to face
similar risks as individual irather than as individual jif, for any four outcome
lotteries ˜
,and ˜
in (X),if(i ) ∼(j )and (i ˜
) ∼(j ˜
)then (i α ˜
+
(1−α)) (j α ˜
+(1−α))for all αin [01].
Recall that agent jis more income risk averse than agent iif the function uj
that maps income to agent j’s von Neumann–Morgenstern utility is a concave
transformation of that function uifor agent i; that is, ui◦u−1
jis convex. For
each i, the function φ−1
imaps the utilities of the impartial observer (used in her
interpersonal welfare comparisons) to agent i’s von Neumann–Morgenstern
utility. Thus, if agent jis more (welfare) risk averse than agent i, then φ−1
jis a
concave transformation of φ−1
i; that is, φ−1
i◦φjis convex everywhere they are
comparable. The next proposition makes this precise.
PROPOSITION 5—Different Risk Attitudes: Suppose that absence of una-
nimity applies.A generalized utilitarian impartial observer with representation
{Uiφ
i}i∈Ialways prefers to face similar risks as irather than jif and
only if the composite function φ−1
i◦φjis convex on the domain Uji := {u∈
R:there exists ∈(X)with (i ) ∼(j )and Uj()=u}.
Next consider indifference as to which individual should face similar risks.
AXIOM 6—Indifference Between Individuals Facing Similar Risks: For an y
pair of individuals iand jin Iand any four outcome lotteries ,,˜
,and ˜
in
(X),if (i ) ∼(j )and (i ˜
) ∼(j ˜
),then,for all αin [01],the impartial
observer is indifferent between facing the similar risks α˜
+(1−α) and α˜
+
(1−α)as individual ior j,respectively.
1952 GRANT, KAJII, POLAK, AND SAFRA
Harsanyi’s utilitarian impartial observer satisfies this indifference: it is an im-
mediate consequence of independence over outcome lotteries for the impartial
observer. But we can imagine an impartial observer who, without necessarily
satisfying all of Harsanyi’s axioms, is nevertheless indifferent as to which indi-
vidual should face similar risks. For example, consider an impartial observer
in the analog of a representative-agent model. In the standard representative-
agent model, all individuals have the same preferences over private consump-
tion and the same attitude to risk. In our setting, we must allow individu-
als to have different preferences over public outcomes.17 But, as in the stan-
dard representative-agent model, we could assume that each individual had
the same risk attitude across outcome lotteries that had been assessed to have
equal welfare. This is precisely the indifference property in Axiom 6.
Given Proposition 5, for any two individuals iand j, indifference between
individuals facing similar risks forces the φiand φjfunctions to be identical up
to positive affine transformations provided Uji has a nonempty interior. Hence
we can make the following statement.
PROPOSITION 6—Common φFunction: Suppose that absence of unanimity
applies and consider a generalized utilitarian impartial observer.There exists a
generalized utilitarian representation {Uiφ
i}i∈Iwith φi=φfor all iin Iif and
only if the impartial observer is indifferent between individuals facing similar risks.
Moreover if for any pair of individuals iand jin I,there exists a sequence of in-
dividuals j1j
Nwith j1=iand jN=jsuch that Ujnjn−1has nonempty interior,
then the functions Uiare unique up to a common positive affine transformation
and the composite functions φ◦Uiare unique up to a common positive affine
transformation.
To compare results, a generalized utilitarian impartial observer who is not
concerned about the issue of different individual risk attitudes (and hence sat-
isfies indifference between individuals facing similar risks) need not be a util-
itarian. She needs only to translate individuals’ von Neumann–Morgenstern
utilities using a common φfunction when making welfare comparisons across
those individuals. Hence such an impartial observer can accommodate issues
of fairness: in particular, the common φfunction might be concave.
In contrast, a generalized utilitarian impartial observer who is not concerned
about issues of fairness (and hence satisfies indifference between life chances
and accidents of birth) must be a utilitarian. Hence such an impartial observer
cannot accommodate the issue of different individual risk attitudes.
To see this directly, recall that independence over outcome lotteries for the
impartial observer immediately implies indifference between individuals facing
similar risks. In addition, by Corollary 4, for a generalized utilitarian impartial
17For example, public outcome ximight allocate an indivisible good to person i,whilexjmight
allocate it to person j.
GENERALIZED UTILITARIANISM 1953
observer, indifference between life chances and accidents of birth implies in-
dependence over outcome lotteries for the impartial observer.
Consideration of different risk aversions and consideration of fairness are
distinct issues, and they may lead an impartial observer in opposite directions.
For example, suppose that all individuals are extremely risk averse over out-
come lotteries, but that the impartial observer is almost risk neutral over iden-
tity lotteries. This impartial observer, anticipating the real discomfort that out-
come lotteries would cause people, might prefer to absorb the risk into the
imaginary identity lottery of her thought experiment. That is, she might pre-
fer a society in which most uncertainty has been resolved—and hence people
would “know their fates”—by the time they were born. Such an impartial ob-
server would prefer accidents of birth to life chances: she would be an ex ante
antiegalitarian.
6. CONTRASTING INDEPENDENCES AND DOMAINS
Recall that Harsanyi worked with the full set of joint distributions (I×X),
not just the product lotteries (I)×(X). He imposed independence directly
on the impartial observer for all mixtures defined on that domain. In this sec-
tion, we first consider the natural extensions of our axioms for the impar-
tial observer in the larger domain (I×X). Second, we consider restrict-
ing Harsanyi’s original independence axiom defined on (I×X)to the set
of product lotteries (I)×(X). Third, we discuss whether imposing iden-
tity and outcome independence directly on the impartial observer is enough to
induce utilitarianism.
6.1. The Full Set of Joint Distributions
Suppose that the impartial observer has preferences over the full space of
joint distributions over identities and outcomes, (I×X). With slight abuse
of notation, let continue to denote these larger preferences. For purposes
of comparison, it is convenient to denote each element of (I×X)in the
form (z (i)i∈I),wherez∈(I)is the marginal on the identities and each i∈
(X)is the outcome lottery conditional on identity iobtaining. Thus (i)i∈Iis
a vector of conditional outcome lotteries. Notice that, in this larger setting, the
impartial observer imagines each individual having his own personal outcome
lottery.
In this setting, the analog of our independence over identity lotteries axiom,
Axiom 3, for the impartial observer is as follows:
AXIOM 3∗—Constrained Independence Over Identity Lotteries (for the Im-
partial Observer): Suppose (z (i)i∈I),(z(
i)i∈I)∈(I×X)are such that
(z (i)i∈I)∼(z(
i)i∈I).Then,for all ˜
z,˜
z∈(I),(˜
z(i)i∈I)(˜
z(
i)i∈I)if
and only if (α˜
z+(1−α)z (i)i∈I)(α ˜
z+(1−α)z(
i)i∈I)for all αin (01].
1954 GRANT, KAJII, POLAK, AND SAFRA
This is the independence axiom suggested by Karni and Safra (2000).
Constrained independence over identity lotteries is weaker than Harsanyi’s
independence axiom in that it only applies to mixtures of identity lotteries.
That is, like our independence axiom for the impartial observer, constrained
independence over identity lotteries is independence for the impartial observer
over the lotteries that she faces directly—namely, identity lotteries—holding
the vector of conditional outcome lotteries fixed. Notice, however, that each
resolution of the identity lottery yields not just a different identity, but also
a different outcome lottery. This extends the bite of the axiom to the larger
space (I×X). When restricted to the set of product lotteries, (I)×(X),
conditional independence reduces to our independence axiom over identity
lotteries.
The following axiom (also from Karni and Safra (2000)) is a slight strength-
ening of Harsanyi’s acceptance axiom.
AXIOM 1∗—Acceptance Principle: For all iin I,all (1
i
I)in
(X)I,and all
iin (X),ii
iif and only if (i (1
i
I))
(i (1
i
I)).
The motivation for this axiom is the same as that for Harsanyi’s axiom. The
slight additional restriction is that if the impartial observer knows that she will
assume individual i’s identity, she does not care about the (possibly different)
conditional outcome lottery that she would have faced had she assumed some
other identity.
If we replace our independence and acceptance axioms with these axioms,
then our generalized utilitarian representation theorem holds exactly as stated
in Theorem 1except that the representation becomes
V(z(
i)i∈I)=
i
ziφi(Ui(i))(3)
That is, each individual has a personal conditional outcome lottery iin place
of the common outcome lottery . The proof is essentially the same as that of
Theorem 1.18 Moreover, Proposition 2,Theorem3,Proposition5, and their
corollaries all continue to hold (with the same modification about personal
outcome lotteries) by the same proofs.19 Thus, if we extend the analogs of our
axioms to Harsanyi’s setting (I×X), we get essentially the same results.
18See Appendix B. Alternatively, this generalized utilitarian representation could be obtained
as a corollary of Theorem 1 in Karni and Safra (2000).
19Corollary 4also holds without this modification, and we can also obtain stronger versions of
outcome independence.
GENERALIZED UTILITARIANISM 1955
6.2. Harsanyi’s Independence Axiom Restricted to Product Lotteries
Conversely, now consider the restriction of Harsanyi’s independence axiom
to our setting, (I)×(X). In this setting, the analog of Harsanyi’s axiom is
to apply independence to all mixtures that are well defined in the set of product
lotteries.20 To understand how Harsanyi’s independence relates to the axioms
in this paper—and hence to see how Harsanyi implicitly imposes each of those
axioms—it helps to unpack Harsanyi’s independence axiom into three axioms,
each associated with the type of mixture to which it applies. First, Harsanyi’s
independence axiom restricted to product lotteries implies our independence
over identity lotteries for the impartial observer. This independence axiom is
also satisfied by our generalized utilitarian impartial observer. Second, it im-
plies independence over outcome lotteries, imposed directly on the impartial
observer not just derived via acceptance from the preferences of the individ-
uals. This independence axiom immediately implies indifference between in-
dividuals facing similar risks. Third, the restriction of Harsanyi’s axiom also
forces the impartial observer to apply independence to hybrid mixtures.
AXIOM 7—Independence Over Hybrid Lotteries (for the Impartial Ob-
server): Suppose (z ),(z
)∈(I)×(X)are such that (z ) ∼(z
).
Then,for all ˜
z∈(I)and all ˜
∈(X),(˜
z) (resp.)(z˜
)if and only if
(α˜
z+(1−α)z ) (resp.)(zα˜
+(1−a))for all αin (01].
In this axiom, the lotteries being mixed on the left are identity lotteries (hold-
ing outcome lotteries fixed), while the lotteries being mixed on the right are
outcome lotteries (holding identity lotteries fixed). This independence axiom
immediately implies indifference between life chances and accidents of birth.
It follows from Theorem 3that, given absence of unanimity and accep-
tance, the first and third implication of Harsanyi’s independence axiom
when restricted to our setting (I)×(X)—that is, identity and hybrid
independence—are enough to yield Harsanyi’s conclusion—utilitarianism.21
6.3. Independence Along Both Margins
A natural question is whether we can replace hybrid independence with out-
come independence in the statement above; that is, whether acceptance and
both identity and outcome independence are enough to induce utilitarianism.
We have argued in this paper that outcome independence is a strong assump-
tion in the context of the impartial observer: it directly imposes independence
20This is the approach of Safra and Weissengrin (2003), who adapted Fishburn’s (1982,
Chap. 7) work on product spaces of mixture sets.
21Given all three implications of Harsanyi’s independence axiom (i.e., including outcome in-
dependence), we can dispense with absence of unanimity; see Safra and Weissengrin (2003).
1956 GRANT, KAJII, POLAK, AND SAFRA
over lotteries that she does not face directly, and by so doing implies much
more than simply imposing independence on the individuals and acceptance
on the impartial observer. Nevertheless, one might prefer such an axiomatiza-
tion to using hybrid independence. First, hybrid independence might seem the
least natural of the three implications of Harsanyi’s independence axiom for
product lotteries. Both outcome and identity independence only involve mix-
ing one margin at a time. Second, an impartial observer might satisfy identity
and outcome independence because she views the two types of randomization
symmetrically—if independence applies to one margin, then perhaps it should
apply to the other—without taking a direct position on whether the two types
of randomization are equivalent.
It turns out, however, that identity independence, outcome independence,
and acceptance are not enough to induce utilitarianism. In fact, we can see
this using the example in the Introduction. Once again, suppose that there are
two individuals, iand j, and two states, xiand xj, denoting which agent is
given a (possibly indivisible) good. As before, suppose that the impartial ob-
server’s preferences satisfy (i xi)∼(j xj)and (i xj)∼(j xi). Suppose that
both individuals satisfy independence. Specifically, for any outcome lottery ,
player i’s expected utility is given by Ui() =(xi)−(xj)and player j’s ex-
pected utility is given by Uj() =(xj)−(xi). Let the impartial observer’s
preferences be given by the generalized utilitarian representation V(z):=
ziφ[Ui()]+zjφ[Uj()], where the (common) φfunction is given by
φ[u]=ukfor u≥0,
−(−u)kfor u<0, for some k>0
Since these preferences are generalized utilitarian (by Theorem 1), they sat-
isfy acceptance and identity independence, and since the φfunction is com-
mon (by Proposition 6), they satisfy indifference between individuals facing
similar risks. It is less obvious that they satisfy outcome independence, but this
is shown in Appendix B.
These preferences even have the property (similar to utilitarianism) that
if the impartial observer thinks she is equally likely to be either person, she
is indifferent as to who gets the good. But these preferences do not satisfy
utilitarianism unless k=1. To see this, notice that these preferences fail in-
difference between life chances and accidents of birth. For example, we have
(i xi)∼(j xj),but(i αxi+(1−α)xj)(α[i]+(1−α)[j]x
i)except in the
special case when α=1
2.
Nevertheless, the conjecture that independence along both margins implies
utilitarianism is close to correct. Grant et al. (2006, Theorem 7) showed that if
there are three or more agents, under some richness conditions on the prefer-
ences, the combination of identity independence, outcome independence, and
acceptance does imply utilitarianism.
GENERALIZED UTILITARIANISM 1957
7. KNOWLEDGE, AGREEMENT, AND WELFARE
Two questions figure prominently in the debates on the impartial observer
theorem: (i) What is it that an individual imagines and knows when she imag-
ines herself in the role of the impartial observer? (ii) must all potential impar-
tial observers agree in their preferences over extended lotteries? In this sec-
tion, we consider four (of many) possible views on these questions and show
how they relate to the issues in this paper: concern about different risk atti-
tudes (loosely, does the impartial observer use a common φfunction?) and
concern about fairness (loosely, is her common φfunction affine?).22
In one view of the impartial observer, she simply imagines being in the phys-
ical circumstances of person ior jfacing the outcome lottery or .23 In this
view, often associated with Vickrey (1945), the impartial observer does not
attempt to imagine having person i’s or j’s preferences. In the context of our
example, the impartial observer simply imagines herself having some chance of
getting the indivisible good and applies her own preferences about such out-
come lotteries. Compared to other views, this approach does not require as
much imagination or knowledge on behalf of the impartial observer. In partic-
ular, she need not know i’s or j’s preferences. If the impartial observer adopts
this approach, loosely speaking, we get a common φfunction for free: the util-
ities in its domain are all utilities of the same agent—the impartial observer.
The φfunction need not be affine, however, since the impartial observer might
still, for example, prefer outcome to identity lotteries. In this approach, there
is no reason to expect all impartial observers to agree. For example, differ-
ent potential impartial observers will generally have different preferences over
physical outcome lotteries. This approach does not attempt to follow the ac-
ceptance principle. Individuals’ preferences over outcome lotteries (other than
those of the impartial observer) play no role.
In a second view (the view taken in this paper), the impartial observer imag-
ines not only being in the physical circumstances of person ior j,butalso
adopting what Pattanaik (1968, p. 1155) called “the subjective features of the
respective individuals.” Arrow (1963, p. 114, 1997) called this “extended sym-
pathy,” but it is perhaps better to use Harsanyi’s own term, “imaginative em-
pathy” (Harsanyi (1977, p. 52); notation changed to ours, but emphasis is in
the original24):
22The following discussion builds especially on We y m ark (1991)andMongin (2001). For other
views, see, for example, Mongin and d’Aspremont (1998).
23Pattanaik (1968, p. 1155) and Harsanyi (1977, p. 52) referred to these as “objective posi-
tions.”
24Rawls (1951, p. 179) also appealed to such imaginative empathy: “A competent judge
must not consider his own de facto preferences as the necessarily valid measure of the actual
worth of those interests which come before him, but be both able and anxious to determine, by
imaginative appreciation, what those interests mean to persons who share them, and to consider
them accordingly” (quoted in Pattanaik (1968, p. 1157–1158)). See also Sen’s (1979) behavioral
and introspective bases for interpersonal comparisons of welfare.
1958 GRANT, KAJII, POLAK, AND SAFRA
This must obviously involve [her] imagining [her]self to be placed in individual i’s objective
position, i.e., to be placed in the objective positions (e.g., income, wealth, consumption
level, state of health, social position) that iwould face in social situation x.Butitmust
also involve assessing these objective conditions in terms of i’s own subjective attitudes and
personal preferences ...rather thanassessingthemintermsof[her]ownsubjectiveattitudes
and personal preferences.
This approach requires more imagination and knowledge by the impartial ob-
server; in particular, she is assumed to know the preferences of each individual
over outcome lotteries and, by acceptance, to adopt these preferences when
facing outcome lotteries as that individual. Knowledge and acceptance of indi-
vidual preferences implies agreement across all potential impartial observers in
ranking pairs of the form (i ) and (i ),butasBroome (1993)andMongin
(2001) pointed out (and as Harsanyi (1977, p. 57) himself concedes), it does
not imply agreement in ranking pairs of the form (i ) and (j ),wherei= j.
For example, each impartial observer can have her own rankings across others’
subjective and objective positions.
Moreover, unlike in the Vickrey view above, a generalized utilitarian im-
partial observer in this setting need not use a common φfunction across all
individuals. To see this, let us extend the example from the Introduction by al-
lowing the good being allocated to be divisible. Suppose that an impartial ob-
server’s own interpersonal assessments are such that she is indifferent between
being person iwith share sof the good and being person jwith the same share
sof the good. Suppose that for person i, the outome lottery 1
2xi+1
2xjin which
he has a half chance of getting the whole good is indifferent to getting half
the good for sure, but for person jthis same lottery is indifferent to getting
one-third of the good for sure. Combining acceptance with her interpersonal
assessments, the impartial observer must prefer facing this outcome lottery as
person i, but (by Proposition 6) this contradicts using a common φfunction
(and in particular, not all the φifunctions can be affine).
A third, more welfarist view goes beyond the assumptions of this paper. Sup-
pose that when an impartial observer imagines being person ifacing outcome
lottery , she knows the (ex ante) “welfare” that iattains from this lottery.
That is, suppose that each person ihas a commonly known welfare function
wi:(X)→R. If we assume what Weymark (1991) called congruence be-
tween welfare and preference—that is, iif and only if wi() ≥wi()—
then this implies, as before, that the impartial observer knows person i’s pref-
erences. Now suppose further that these welfares are at least ordinally mea-
surable and fully comparable, and that the impartial observer satisfies the rule
(i ) (j )if and only if wi() ≥wj(). This extra assumption implies accep-
tance, but it is stronger. It implies that all potential impartial observers must
agree in ranking pairs of the form (i ) and (j ).
Nevertheless, a generalized utilitarian impartial observer in this setting still
need not use a common φfunction across all individuals. The example above
still applies. The wi(·)functions can encode the impartial observer’s assess-
ment about being indifferent between being ior jwith the same share sof the
GENERALIZED UTILITARIANISM 1959
good, and they can encode iand j’s different certainty equivalents. Again, this
forces φiand φjto differ (and at least one to be nonaffine).
Moreover, these welfarist assumptions still do not imply full agreement
across potential impartial observers. All impartial observers must agree in
the ranking of extended lotteries in which they know for sure which identity
they will assume, but they can still differ in their ranking of general extended
lotteries of the form (z ) and (z
). For example, different impartial ob-
servers might have different preferences between outcome and identity lotter-
ies, and/or each impartial observer can have her own risk attitude in facing
identity lotteries, reflected in her own set of φifunctions. That is, even with
these extreme assumptions, different impartial observers with different risk at-
titudes will make different social choices.
To get beyond this conclusion, a fourth view simply assumes that each po-
tential impartial observer’s von Neumann–Morgenstern utility V(i)from the
extended lottery (i ) is equal to the commonly known (fully comparable) wel-
fare wi(), which in turn is equal to individual i’s von Neumann–Morgenstern
utility Ui().25 In this case, all attitudes toward similar risks are the same; in
particular, the preferences of the impartial observer and the individuals iand
jin the example above can no longer apply. With this strong identification
assumption, we finally get both an affine common φfunction (i.e., utilitarian-
ism) and agreement among all potential impartial observers, but this approach
seems a few assumptions beyond Harsanyi’s claim to have derived utilitarian-
ism from Bayesian rationality alone.
APPENDIX A: PROOFS
We first establish some lemmas that will be useful in the proofs that fol-
low. The first lemma shows that, given absence of unanimity, we need at most
two outcome lotteries, 1and 2, to cover the entire range of the impartial
observer’s preferences in the following sense: for all product lotteries (z ) ,
either (z ) ∼(z
1)for some z,or(z ) ∼(z
2)for some z, or both.
Moreover the set of product lotteries for which both applies are not all indif-
ferent.
To state this more formally, let the outcome lotteries 1
2(not necessarily
distinct) and the identity lotteries z1z
2(not necessarily distinct) be such that
(z1
1)(z2
2)and such that (z1
1)(z ) (z2
2)for all product lot-
teries (z ). That is, the product lottery (z1
1)is weakly better than all other
product lotteries and the product lottery (z2
2)is weakly worse than all other
product lotteries. Additionally, let the identity lotteries z1and z2(not neces-
sarily distinct) be such that (z1
1)(z 1)(z1
1)for all product lotter-
ies (z 1)and (z2
2)(z 2)(z2
2)for all product lotteries (z 2).That
25This identification is at the heart of the debate between Harsanyi and Sen. See We y mark
(1991).
1960 GRANT, KAJII, POLAK, AND SAFRA
is, given outcome lottery 1, the identity lottery z1is (weakly) worse than all
other identity lotteries, and given outcome lottery 2, the identity lottery z2is
(weakly) better than all other identity lotteries. The existence of these special
lotteries follows from continuity of , nonemptiness of and compactness of
(I)×(X). Moreover, by independence over identity lotteries, we can take
z1z
1z2and z2each to be a degenerate identity lottery. Let these be i1i
1i
2
and i2, respectively.
LEMMA 7—Spanning: Assume absence of unanimity applies and that the im-
partial observer satisfies acceptance and independence over identity lotteries.Let
i1i
1i
2i
2
1and 2be defined as above.Then (a) either (i1
1)∼(i2
2),or
(i2
2)∼(i1
1),or (i2
2)(i1
1)and (b) for any product lottery (z ),either
(i1
1)(z ) (i1
1)or (i2
2)(z ) (i2
2)or both.
PROOF:(a)If1=2, then the first two cases both hold. Otherwise, sup-
pose that the first two cases do not hold; that is, (i1
1)(i2
2)and (i1
1)
(i2
2). By the definition of i1, we know that (i2
1)(i1
1)and hence
(i2
1)(i2
2). Using absence of unanimity and acceptance, there must exist
another individual ˆ
ı= i2such that (ˆ
ı 2)(ˆ
ı 1). Again by the definition of i1,
we know that (ˆ
ı 1)(i1
1)and hence (ˆ
ı 2)(i1
1). By the definition of
i2, we know that (i2
2)(ˆ
ı 2)and hence (i2
2)(i1
1), as desired. Part
(b) follows immediately from (a). Q.E.D.
The next lemma does not yet impose independence over outcome lotteries
on individuals and hence yields a more general representation than that in
Theorem 1. The idea for this lemma comes from Karni and Safra (2000), but
they worked with the full set of joint distributions (I×X),whereasweare
restricted to the set of product lotteries (I)×(X).
LEMMA 8—Affine Representation: Suppose absence of unanimity applies.
Then the impartial observer satisfies the acceptance principle and independence
over identity lotteries if and only if there exist a continuous function V:(I)×
(X)→Rthat represents and,for each individual iin I,a function
Vi:(X)→Rthat represents isuch that for all (z ) in (I)×(X),
V(z)=
I
i=1
ziVi()(4)
Moreover the functions Viare unique up to common positive affine transforma-
tions.
PROOF: Since the representation is affine in identity lotteries, it is immedi-
ate that the represented preferences satisfy the axioms. We will show that the
axioms imply the representation.
GENERALIZED UTILITARIANISM 1961
Let i1i
1i
2i
2
1and 2be defined as in Lemma 7. Given continuity, an im-
mediate consequence of Lemma 7is that, for any product lottery (z ) , either
(z ) ∼(z
1)for some zor (z ) ∼(z
2)for some z or both. Moreover,
we can choose the zsuch that its support only contains individuals i1and i1,
and similarly for z with respect to i2and i2.
The proof of Lemma 8now proceeds with two cases.
Case 1. The easiest case to consider is where 1=2. In this case, (i1
1)
(i1
1)and (i1
1)(z ) (i1
1)for all (z ). Then, for each (z ),let
V(z)be defined by
V(z)[i1]+(1−V (z ))[i1]
1∼(z )
By continuity and independence over identity lotteries, such a V(z) exists
and is unique.
To show that this representation is affine, notice that if (V (z )[i1]+(1−
V (z ))[i1]
1)∼(z ) and (V (z)[i1]+(1−V(z
))[i1]
1)∼(z), then
independence over identity lotteries implies ([αV (z ) +(1−α)V (z)][i1]+
[1−αV (z ) −(1−α)V (z)][i1]
1)∼(αz +(1−α)z). Hence αV (z ) +
(1−α)V (z)=V (αz +(1−α)z).
Since any identity lottery zin (I)can be written as z=izi[i], proceed-
ing sequentially on I, affinity implies V(z)=iziV(i). Finally, by accep-
tance, V(i·)agrees with ion (X). Hence, if we define Vi:(X)→Rby
Vi() =V(i), then Virepresents individual i’s preferences. The uniqueness
argument is standard; see, for example, Karni and Safra (2000, p. 321).
Case 2. If (i1
1)∼(i2
2), then (i1
1)(z ) (i1
1)for all (z ) and
hence Case 1 applies. Similarly, if (i2
2)∼(i1
1), then (i2
2)(z )
(i2
2)for all (z ), and again Case 1 applies (with 2in place of 1). Hence
suppose that (i1
1)(i2
2)and that (i1
1)(i2
2). Then, by Lemma 7,
(i1
1)(i2
2)(i1
1)(i2
2); that is, we have two overlapping intervals
that span the entire range of the impartial observer’s preferences.
Then, just as in Case 1, we can construct an affine function V1(··)to repre-
sent the impartial observer’s preferences restricted to those (z ) such that
(i1
1)(z ) (i1
1), and we can construct an affine function V2(··)to
represent restricted to those (z ) such that (i2
2)(z ) (i2
2).We
can then apply an affine renormalization of either V1or V2such that the (re-
normalized) representations agree on the overlap (i2
2)(z ) (i1
1).
Since V1(··)and V2(··)are affine, the renormalized representation is affine,
and induction on I(plus acceptance) gives us V(z)=iziVi() as before.
Again, uniqueness follows from standard arguments. Q.E.D.
REMARK: The argument in Case 1 above is similar to that in Safra and
Weisengrin (2003, p. 184) and Karni and Safra (2000, p. 320) except that in
1962 GRANT, KAJII, POLAK, AND SAFRA
the latter case, the analog of 1is a vector of outcome lotteries with a differ-
ent outcome lottery for each agent. Both these papers use stronger axioms to
obtain a unique representation when Case 1 does not apply. Our argument for
these cases applies Lemma 7, which in turn uses the richness condition, ab-
sence of unanimity, in place of any stronger axiom on the preferences of the
impartial observer.
PROOF OF THEOREM 1—Generalized Utilitarianism: It is immediate that
the represented preferences satisfy the axioms. We will show that the axioms
imply the representation. If we add to Lemma 8(the affine representation
lemma) the assumption that each individual satisfies independence over out-
come lotteries, then it follows immediately that each Vifunction in represen-
tation (4) must be a strictly increasing transformation φiof a von Neumann–
Morgenstern expected-utility representation Ui. Thus, we obtain a generalized
utilitarian representation. Q.E.D.
PROOF OF PROPOSITION 2—Concavity: For each iin I,setVi() :=
V(i)=φi[Ui()]for all . That is, these are the Vi’s from the affine rep-
resentation in Lemma 8. Since each Uiis affine in outcome lotteries, each
V(i·)is concave in outcome lotteries if and only if the corresponding φiis
concave.
To show that concavity is sufficient, suppose (z )∼(z). Using the repre-
sentation in Lemma 8and imposing concavity, we obtain V(zα+(1−α))=
I
i=1ziVi(α+(1−α))=I
i=1ziV(iα+(1−α))≥I
i=1zi[αV (i )+(1−
α)V (i )]=αV (z )+(1−α)V (z ). Using the fact that (z )∼(z), the
last expression is equal to αV (z ) +(1−α)V (z)=V (αz +(1−α)z).
Hence the impartial observer exhibits a preference for life chances.
For necessity, we need to show that for all iand all ,∈(X),V(iα+
(1−α))≥αV (i ) +(1−α)V (i )for all αin [01].Soletexhibit prefer-
ence for life chances, fix i, and consider ,∈(X). Assume first that ∼i.
By acceptance, V(i)=V(i
). Hence, by preference for life chances,
V(iα+(1−α))
≥V(α[i]+(1−α)[i]) (by preference for life chances)
=V(i)
=αV (i ) +(1−α)V (i )(since V(i)=V(i
))
as desired.
Assume henceforth that i(and, by acceptance, V (i ) > V (i )). By
absence of unanimity, there must exist a jsuch that V (j ) < V (j ).There
are three cases to consider.
(a) If V(i
)≥V(j), then by the representation in Lemma 8, there exists
z(of the form β[i]+(1−β)[j]) such that V(z
)=V(i
).Thus,forallα
GENERALIZED UTILITARIANISM 1963
in (01),
V(iα+(1−α))
≥V(α[i]+(1−α)z) (by preference for life chances)
=αV (i ) +(1−α)V (z)
=αV (i ) +(1−α)V (i )(since V(z
)=V(i
))
as desired.
Assume henceforth that V (j ) > V (i )(which implies V(j
)>V(i
)).
(b) If V(j
)≥V(i), then by the representation in Lemma 8, there exists
z(of the form β[i]+(1−β)[j]) such that V(z
)=V(i).Thus,forallαin
(01),
V(iα
+(1−α))
≥V(α[i]+(1−α)z )(by preference for life chances)
=αV (i )+(1−α)V (z )
=αV (i )+(1−α)V (i ) (since V(z
)=V(i))
as desired.
(c) Finally, let V (i ) > V (j ) > V (j ) > V (i). By the continuity of V,
there exist β0and β0in (01)such that β0>β
0, and such that V(iβ
0+(1−
β0))=V(j
)and V(iβ
0+(1−β0))=V(j).Denote0=β0+(1−
β0). Then similarly to part (a),
Vi(γ +(1−γ)0)≥γVi() +(1−γ)Vi(0)
for all γ∈(01). Next, denote 0=β0+(1−β0). Then similarly to part (b),
Vi(γ+(1−γ)0)≥γVi()+(1−γ)Vi(0)
for all γ∈(01). Therefore, restricted to the line segment [], the graph
of Vilies weakly above the line connecting (V
i()) and (0V
i(0)) (as does
the point (0V
i(0))) and weakly above the line connecting (0V
i(0)) and
( Vi()) (as does the point (0V
i(0))). Hence, Vi(α +(1−α))≥αVi() +
(1−α)Vi()for all α∈(01).Q.E.D.
PROOF OF THEOREM 3—Utilitarianism: It is immediate that the repre-
sented preferences satisfy the axioms. We will show that the axioms imply the
representation. Given acceptance, the proof of Proposition 2(concavity) shows
that the impartial observer satisfies preference for life chances if and only if,
each Viin the representation in Lemma 8is concave in outcome lotteries. No-
tice, in particular, that this argument never uses the fact that each individual
1964 GRANT, KAJII, POLAK, AND SAFRA
satisfies independence over outcome lotteries. By a similar argument, the im-
partial observer is indifferent between life chances and accidents of birth if and
only if each Viis affine in outcome lotteries. To complete the representation,
for each i,setUi(·)≡Vi(·)to obtain the required von Neumann–Morgenstern
expected-utility representation of individual i’s preferences i.Q.E.D.
PROOF OF COROLLARY 4—Outcome Independence: This result can be ob-
tained as a corollary of Theorem 3(utilitarianism). Alternatively, the proof of
Proposition 2(concavity) shows that the impartial observer is indifferent be-
tween life chances and accidents of birth if and only if, for all iin I,V(i·)
is affine in outcome lotteries. Using the representation in Lemma 8,weob-
tain V(zα+(1−α))=I
i=1ziV(iα+(1−α))=I
i=1zi[αV (i ) +
(1−α)V (i )]=αV (z ) +(1−α)V (z ). That is, the impartial observer is
affine in outcome lotteries. Hence it follows that the impartial observer satis-
fies independence over outcome lotteries. Q.E.D.
PROOF OF PROPOSITION 5—Different Risk Attitudes: First, notice that if
Uji is not empty, then it is a closed interval. If Uji has an empty interior, then the
proposition holds trivially true. Therefore, assume that Uji =[uji¯
uji],where
uji <¯
uji.
To prove that φ−1
i◦φjconvex is sufficient, fix ,,˜
,and ˜
such that
V(i)=V(j
)and V(i˜
) =V(j ˜
). We want to show that V(iα˜
+(1−
α)) ≥V(jα˜
+(1−α)). By construction, both Uj()and Uj(˜
)lie in Uji.
Moreover, we have Ui() =φ−1
i◦φj[Uj()]and Ui(˜
) =φ−1
i◦φj[Uj(˜
)]. Ap-
plying the representation, we obtain
V(iα˜
+(1−α))
=φiUi(α ˜
+(1−α))(by the representation)
=φi[αUi(˜
) +(1−α)Ui()](by affinity of Ui)
=φiαφ−1
i◦φj[Uj(˜
)]
+(1−α)φ−1
i◦φj[Uj()](by the representation)
≥φiφ−1
i◦φj[αUj(˜
)
+(1−α)Uj()](by convexity of φ−1
i◦φj)
=φjUj(α ˜
+(1−α))(by affinity of Uj)
=V(jα˜
+(1−α))(by the representation)
To prove that φ−1
i◦φjconvex is necessary, fix v w in Uji. By the definition of
Uji, there exist outcome lotteries ∈(X)such that Uj()=vand Ui() =
GENERALIZED UTILITARIANISM 1965
φ−1
i◦φj(v), and there exist outcome lotteries ˜
˜
∈(X)such that Uj(˜
)=
wand Ui(˜
) =φ−1
i◦φj(w). By construction, we have V(i)=V(j
)and
V(i˜
) =V(j ˜
). Therefore, for all αin (01),
φiUi(α ˜
+(1−α))≥φjUj(α ˜
+(1−α))
⇒αUi(˜
) +(1−α)Ui() ≥φ−1
i◦φj[αUj(˜
)+(1−α)Uj()]
⇒αφ−1
i◦φj(w) +(1−α)φ−1
i◦φj(v)
≥φ−1
i◦φj(αw +(1−α)v)
Since vand wwere arbitrary, the last inequality corresponds to the convexity
of φ−1
i◦φjon Uji.Q.E .D.
PROOF OF PROPOSITION 6—Common φFunction: Necessity follows imme-
diately from Proposition 5. For the sufficiency argument, first fix a represen-
tation {Uiφ
i}i∈Iof the preferences of the generalized utilitarian impartial
observer. Recall that by Theorem 1, the composite functions φi◦Uiare unique
up to a common positive affine transformation. The argument proceeds by a
series of steps to construct a new representation { ˆ
Uiˆ
φi}i∈Iwith ˆ
φi≡φfor
all iin I. The construction leaves the composite functions unchanged; that is,
φi◦Ui≡φ◦ˆ
Uifor all i. To start, let the outcome lottery 1and the individual
i1be such that (i1
1)(j )for all individuals j∈Iand outcome lotteries
in (X).
Step 1. Suppose there exists a second individual jsuch that the interval Uji1
has a nonempty interior. By Proposition 5, if the impartial observer is indif-
ferent between facing similar risks as i1or j, then φ−1
i1◦φjis affine on Uji1.
Since Uji1has a nonempty interior, φ−1
i1◦φjhas a unique affine extension on
R. Define a new von Neumann–Morgenstern utility function ˆ
Ujfor agent jby
the affine transformation ˆ
Uj() := φ−1
i1◦φj[Uj()]for all in (X).Definea
new transformation function ˆ
φjfor agent jby setting ˆ
φj(ˆ
Uj()) := φj(Uj()).
Thus, in particular, if (i1) ∼(j )(and hence φj[Uj()]=φi1[Ui1()]),
thenbyconstructionwehave ˆ
Uj()=Ui1(). Moreover, by construction we
have ˆ
φj(u) =φi1(u) for all uin the intersection of the ranges Ui((X)) ∩
ˆ
Uj((X)). Hence, with slight abuse of notation we can write φ:= ˆ
φj=φi1,
even if this extends the domain of φi1. Thus, we can construct a new general-
ized utilitarian representation of the same preferences with Ujreplaced by ˆ
Uj
and φjreplaced by φin which the two individuals i1and jshare a common
φ. Uniqueness of the Uiup to common positive affine transformations holds
because, by construction, (i1)∼(j )implies Ui1() =ˆ
Uj().
Step 2. By repeating Step 1 for any individual jin Isuch that there exists a
sequence of individuals j1j
Nwith j1=i1and jN=jsuch that Ujnjn−1has
1966 GRANT, KAJII, POLAK, AND SAFRA
nonempty interior, we can construct a new generalized utilitarian representa-
tion in which the two individuals i1and jshare a common φ.LetI1be the set
of individuals who can be connected to i1in this manner. If I1=I, then we
are done.
Step 3. Suppose then that I\I1is nonempty. By construction, (j )(j
)
for all
in (X)and all j∈I1and j∈I\I1.Leti∈I\I1and ˆ
∈(X)
be such that (iˆ
) (j
)for all individuals j∈I\I1and outcome lotteries
in (X).If(j )∼(i) for some in (X)and j∈I1,let ˆ
Uibe a
positive affine transformation of Uisuch that ˆ
Ui() =Uj()and let ˆ
φibe
such that ˆ
φi◦ˆ
Ui≡φi◦Ui. Then simply extend φon the range of ˆ
Uiby
setting φ:= ˆ
φi. Conversely, if (j )(i) for all in (X)and j∈I1,
let ˆ
Uibe a positive affine transformation of Uisuch that ˆ
Ui() < Uj()for
all in (X)and j∈I1,andlet ˆ
φibe such that ˆ
φi◦ˆ
Ui≡φi◦Ui.Again,
extend φon the range of ˆ
Uiby setting φ:= ˆ
φi.
Step 4. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 using iin place of i1and φin place of φi1.Let
I2be the set of individuals who can be connected to iwhen Step 2 is repeated.
Notice that by construction, I1∩I2is empty. If I1∪I2=I, then we are done.
If I1∪I2= I, then repeat Step 3. Let i be the individual in I\(I1∪I2)that
corresponds to iin this step. Then repeat Steps 1 and 2 using i place of i.
From the finiteness of I, this process can be repeated only a finite number of
times before we exhaust I.Q.E.D.
APPENDIX B
This appendix contains two counterexamples mentioned in the text and also
the key step to show that the proof of Theorem 1extends to obtain the form of
generalized utilitarian representation given in expression (3) for preferences
defined on (I×X)and the corresponding axioms as given in Section 6.
Examples
For each of the following examples, let I={12}and X={x1x
2}.Tosim-
plify notation, for each z∈(I),letq=z2,andforeach∈(X), let
p:= (x2). Then, with slight abuse of notation, we write (q p) (qp
)for
(z ) (z
)and write V(qp)for V(z).
Example 1simply translates the example discussed in Section 6to show that
the impartial observer might satisfy acceptance, and both identity and outcome
independence but not be utilitarian.
EXAMPLE 1: Let agent 1’s preferences be given by U1(p) =(1−2p) and
let agent 2’s preferences be given by U2(p) =(2p−1). Let the impartial ob-
server’s preferences be given by V(qp):= (1−q)φ[U1(p)]+qφ[U2(p)],
GENERALIZED UTILITARIANISM 1967
where the (common) φfunction is given by
φ[u]=ukfor u≥0,
−(−u)kfor u<0, for some k>0
Acceptance and identity independence were discussed in the text. To show
that this example satisfies outcome independence, consider the inverse func-
tion φ−1(u) =u1/k for u≥0andφ−1(u) =−(−u)1/k for u<0. This is a strictly
increasing function. Therefore, the function φ−1[V(··)]represents the same
preferences as V(··).
It is enough to show that we can write
φ−1[V(qp)]=(1−p)φ−1[(1−2q)]+pφ−1[(2q−1)]
This alternative representation is symmetric to the original representation
V(··)with the p’s and q’s reversed, and φ−1replacing φ. Since the alterna-
tive representation is affine in p, preferences must satisfy independence over
outcome lotteries.
To confirm that φ−1[V(··)]takes this form, it is instructive to rewrite
V(qp)as
V(qp)=(1−2q)(1−2p)kfor p<1/2,
(2q−1)(2p−1)kfor p>1/2,
=
⎧
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎨
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎩
(1−2q)(1−2p)kfor q<1/2, p<1/2
(and V(qp)>0),
−(2q−1)(1−2p)kfor q>1/2, p<1/2
(and V(qp)<0),
0for(2q−1)(2p−1)=0,
−(1−2q)(2p−1)kfor q<1/2, p>1/2
(and V(qp)<0),
(2q−1)(2p−1)kfor q>1/2, p>1/2
(and V(qp)>0).
Hence,
φ−1◦V(qp)=
⎧
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎨
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎩
(1−2q)1/k(1−2p) for q<1/2, p<1/2,
−(2q−1)1/k(1−2p) for q>1/2, p<1/2,
0for(2q−1)(2p−1)=0,
−(1−2q)1/k(2p−1)for q<1/2, p>1/2,
(2q−1)1/k(2p−1)for q>1/2, p>1/2,
1968 GRANT, KAJII, POLAK, AND SAFRA
=
⎧
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎨
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎩
(1−p)(1−2q)1/k+p−[−(2q−1)]1/k
for q<1/2,
0forq=1/2,
(1−p)−[−(1−2q)]1/k+p(2q−1)1/k
for q>1/2,
=(1−p)φ−1[(1−2q)]+pφ−1[(2q−1)]
which equals (1−p)φ−1[(1−2q)]+pφ−1[(2q−1)]as desired.
Example 2shows that the impartial observer’s preferences can satisfy all the
conditions of Proposition 2(the concavity result) except absence of unanimity
and yet the functions φineed not be concave. That is, absence of unanimity is
essential.
EXAMPLE 2: Let the individual’s preferences be given by U1(p) =U2(p) =
pand let the impartial observer’s preferences be given by V(qp):= (1−
q)φ1[U1(p)]+qφ2[U2(p)],where
φ1(u) := 1/4+u/2foru≤1/2,
ufor u>1/2,
φ2(u) := ufor u≤1/2,
2u−1/2foru>1/2.
Since U1=U2, both individuals have the same ranking over outcome lotter-
ies and so the impartial observer’s preferences violate absence of unanimity.
Clearly, the functions φ1(·)and φ2(·)are not concave. To see that the im-
partial observer satisfies preference for life chances, without loss of general-
ity let p≤pand notice that (q p)∼(qp) implies either p≤p≤1/2or
p≥p≥1/2. But in either case, the functions φ1and φ2are concave (in fact,
affine) on the domain [p p]and hence V (αq +(1−α)qp) ≤(in fact, =)
V(qαp+(1−α)p), as desired.
The Generalized Utilitarian Representation for (I×X)
We next show that we can use essentially the same proof as for Theorem 1
to obtain the form of generalized utilitarian representation given in expression
(3) for an impartial observer’s preferences defined on (I×X)that sat-
isfy the axioms given in Section 6. The key step is to show that the analog of
Lemma 7(spanning) part (b) still applies: there exist two outcome lotteries
1and 2, and four individuals i1i
1i
2and i2such that for any joint distribu-
tion (z (i)i∈I), either (i1
1)(z (i)i∈I)(i1
1)or (i2
2)(z (i)i∈I)
(i2
2)or both. That is, we can still use two sets of product lotteries, one as-
sociated with 1and one with 2, to span the entire range of the the impartial
GENERALIZED UTILITARIANISM 1969
observer’s preferences even though these are now defined over the full set of
joint distributions (I×X).
To see this, let (ˆ
z ( ˆ
i)i∈I)be an element of (I×X)with the property
that (ˆ
z ( ˆ
i)i∈I)(z (i)i∈I)for all (z (i)i∈I)∈(I×X). By constrained in-
dependence, there must exist an individual i1in the support of ˆ
zsuch that
(i1(ˆ
i)i∈I)∼(ˆ
z ( ˆ
i)i∈I).Let1:= ˆ
i1and let (i1
1)denote the (product)
lottery (i1(
i)i∈I),wherei=1for all i∈I. By the acceptance∗principle
Axiom 1∗,(i1
1)∼(i1(ˆ
i)i∈I). Therefore, there exists an outcome lottery 1
and an individual i1such that the product lottery (i1
1)has the property that
(i1
1)(z (i)i∈I)for all (z (i)i∈I)∈(I×X). Similarly, there exists an
outcome lottery 2and an individual i2such that the product lottery (i2
2)has
the property that (z (i)i∈I)(i2
2)for all (z (i)i∈I)∈(I×X).Definei1
and i2exactly as in Lemma 7. The proof of part (a) of Lemma 7(spanning)
then follows with no change in the proof, and the analog of part (b) of the
lemma (as stated above) follows immediately from part (a).
Thereafter, the proof of the representation result is almost unchanged. The
analog of Lemma 8obtains an affine representation of the form V(z)=
I
i=1ziVi(i). The proof is the same as that for Lemma 8except that con-
strained independence is used wherever independence over identity lotter-
ies was used before. This extends the representation from product lotteries
(I)×(X)to the full space of joint distributions (I×X). The fact that
Vi(i)takes the form φi(Ui(i)) follows (as before) from acceptance and out-
come independence for individuals.
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GENERALIZED UTILITARIANISM 1971
Dept. of Economics, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, TX 77005,
U.S.A. and School of Economics, University of Queensland, Level 6, Colin Clark
Building (39), St. Lucia, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia; simongrant1962@gmail.
com,
Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501,
Japan; kajii@kier.kyoto-u.ac.jp,
Dept. of Economics, Yale University, P.O. Box 208268, New Haven, CT 06520-
8268, U.S.A.; Benjamin.Polak@yale.edu,
and
Business School, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4ST, U.K., The College of
Management, and Tel Aviv University, Israel; z.safra@ex.ac.uk.
Manuscript received September, 2006; final revision received April, 2010.
