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The "View from Manywhere": Normative Economics with Context-Dependent Preferences

Author

Listed:
  • Guilhem Lecouteux

    (Université Côte d'Azur
    GREDEG CNRS)

  • Ivan Mitrouchev

    (Univ Lyon, UJM Saint-Etienne, GATE, France
    Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, REGARDS, France)

Abstract
We propose a methodology for behavioural normative economics based on a precise characterisation of context-dependence. The key feature of our proposal is to locate normative authority, not in the synoptic and third-person judgement of the social planner ("view from nowhere"), nor in the first-person judgement of the individual ("view from somewhere"), but in the second-person ability of the individual to confront conflicting judgements across contexts ("view from manywhere"). We offer a definition of the "context" in behavioural normative economics, propose a critical review of the related literature, and then advance our own proposal. We formulate a normative criterion of "self-determination" and justify it with two complementary approaches, interpreting the "view from manywhere" either as an extension of Sugden's opportunity criterion, or as an application of Sen's "positional views" in his theory of justice to behavioural normative economics.

Suggested Citation

  • Guilhem Lecouteux & Ivan Mitrouchev, 2021. "The "View from Manywhere": Normative Economics with Context-Dependent Preferences," GREDEG Working Papers 2021-19, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    • Handle: RePEc:gre:wpaper:2021-19
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Cited by:

    1. Guilhem Lecouteux, 2021. "Reconciling Normative and Behavioural Economics: The Problem that Cannot be Solved," GREDEG Working Papers 2021-27, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    2. Antoinette BAUJARD & Muriel GILARDONE, 2020. "Reconciling agency and impartiality: positional views as the cornerstone of Sen’s idea of justice," Economics Working Paper from Condorcet Center for political Economy at CREM-CNRS 2020-03-ccr, Condorcet Center for political Economy.
    3. Guilhem Lecouteux, 2021. "Who's Afraid of Incoherence? Behavioural Welfare Economics and the Sovereignty of the Neoclassical Consumer," GREDEG Working Papers 2021-01, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    4. Guilhem Lecouteux & Ivan Mitrouchev, 2022. "Preference purification in behavioural welfare economics: an impossibility result," Working Papers hal-03791972, HAL.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    normative economics; social planner; context-dependent preferences; behavioural public policy; second-person standpoint;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B41 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - Economic Methodology
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D90 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

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