Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: John Roemer
Author-Name-First: John
Author-Name-Last: Roemer
Author-Workplace-Name: Department of Economics, University of California Davis
Title: "What we owe our children, they their children, and..."
Abstract: Egalitarian theorists, since Rawls, have in the main advocated equalizing some objective standard of individual well-being, such as primary goods, functioning, or resources, rather than subjective welfare. This discussion, however, has assumed, implicitly, a static environment, with a single or perhaps a small number of generations.  By studying the problem of equality of opportunity in a society that survives for many generations, we demonstrate that equality of opportunity for some objective condition of individuals is incompatible with a natural notion of human development over time. We argue that this incompatibility can be resolved by equalizing opportunities for welfare.  Thus, â??subjectivismâ?? seems necessary if we are to hope for a society which can both equalize opportunities and support the development of human capacity over time.
Length: 27
File-URL: https://repec.dss.ucdavis.edu/files/bPoU2DLDeAfSWPzpeUaTkvBb/99-9.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
Number: 135
Classification-JEL: 
KeyWords: 
Creation-Date: 20030115
Handle: RePEc:cda:wpaper:135