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Identity, ethics and behavioural welfare economics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 April 2023

Ivan Mitrouchev Open the ORCID record for Ivan Mitrouchev [Opens in a new window]  and
Valerio Buonomo
Ivan Mitrouchev*
Affiliation:
IESEG School of Management, Univ. Lille, CNRS, UMR 9221 – LEM – Lille Economie Management, F-59000 Lille, France
Valerio Buonomo
Affiliation:
Centre for Philosophy of Time, Department of Philosophy, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
*
*Corresponding author: Ivan Mitrouchev; Email: i.mitrouchev@ieseg.fr
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Abstract

Multiple selves is a conventional assumption in behavioural welfare economics for modelling intrapersonal well-being. Yet an important question is which self has normative authority over others. In this paper, we advance an argument for what we call the ‘ontological approach’ to personal identity in behavioural welfare economics. According to this approach, ethical questions – such as which preference should be granted normative authority over another – can be informed by the ontological criterion of personal persistence, which aims at determining what it takes for an individual to persist from one time to another.

Keywords

Multiple selvesontologypreference reversalstimewell-beingB41D15I31
Type
Article
Information
Economics & Philosophy , First View , pp. 1 - 27
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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