scholarly journals The utilitarian case against the universal basic income

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marko Kovic
Keyword(s):  
Marginal Utility ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Individual Welfare ◽  
Diminishing Marginal Utility ◽  
Total Welfare

The universal basic income (UBI) is morally desirable because it makes peoples' lives better: If a UBI were to be implemented, average and total welfare in the population would significantly increase. However, I argue that a non-universal basic income that is adjusted for people's prior income and wealth (and which therefore takes into account the diminishing marginal utility of money on individual welfare) is more effective than the UBI at maximizing welfare in a population. If we sincerely care about the utilitarian goal of the UBI, then non-universal basic income schemes that are better at achieving that goal should be considered both in theory as well as in practice.

Income or Culture? Examining the Determinants of Subjective Wellbeing in an International Sample

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siddharth Garg
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Subjective Wellbeing ◽  
Regression Coefficient ◽  
Marginal Utility ◽  
Economic Class ◽  
Income Groups ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The World ◽  
Diminishing Marginal Utility ◽  
The Relationship

Objective: The aim of this paper was to examine the relationship between income, subjective wellbeing, and culture among people from a higher socio-economic class across the world. Rationale: Ed Diener proposed the law of diminishing marginal utility as an explanation for differences in subjective wellbeing among different income groups across different countries (Diener, Ng, & Tov, Balance in life and declining marginal utility of diverse resources, 2009). Thus, people with higher incomes would experience less subjective wellbeing due to income, and culture should emerge as a significant predictor. Method: Data from this study came from another study (https://siddharthgargblog.wordpress.com/2019/07/14/love-for-money/). I used an online survey to collect data on annual income in US dollars, subjective wellbeing (WHO-5), and country of residence (Indicator of Culture). 96 responses (Indians = 24, Foreigners = 72) were entered in IBM SPSS and a regression analysis was conducted. The raw dataset used in this study can be found at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.8869040.v1Results: ANOVA showed a significant difference (p < 0.05) between Indians and foreigners on levels of subjective wellbeing. Linear regression shows the regression coefficient of culture to be significant (Beta = -.254, p = .014) but the regression coefficient of income was not found to be significant. The overall model was found to explain 8.2% of the variance in wellbeing.Conclusion: The sample of this study is too small to make any kind of generalization; it does lend a little bit of support to the idea of diminishing marginal utility of income on subjective wellbeing and provides a rationale for further research.

scholarly journals The Shapiro-Stiglitz Model with Non-constant Marginal Utility

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-48
Author(s):  
Joseph S. K. Wu ◽  
Chi Pui Ho
Keyword(s):  
Utility Function ◽  
Unemployment Rate ◽  
Marginal Utility ◽  
Efficiency Wage ◽  
Generalized Model ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Secular Decline ◽  
Diminishing Marginal Utility

Abstract The Shapiro-Stiglitz model plays an important role in the employment theory. Woodford pointed out the theoretic limitation of the linear worker's utility function in that model. He questioned the model's implication of the secular decline in the unemployment rate when such rate was in fact trendless. He proposed to resolve this by allowing diminishing marginal utility of income. In this paper, the Shapiro- Stiglitz model is generalized using a nonlinear utility function implicit in the Stiglitz Efficiency-wage paper, thus linking these two well-known models. The nonlinear utility function in this generalized model not only allows for diminishing marginal utility of income but also allows for the analysis of parameters representing various factors affecting the secular unemployment rate. In particular, we can specify the condition under which the diminishing marginal utility can cause such rate to be trendless.

scholarly journals The Nature of Risk Preferences: Evidence from Insurance Choices

2013 ◽  
Vol 103 (6) ◽  
pp. 2499-2529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Levon Barseghyan ◽  
Francesca Molinari ◽  
Ted O'Donoghue ◽  
Joshua C Teitelbaum
Keyword(s):  
Loss Aversion ◽  
Structural Model ◽  
Marginal Utility ◽  
Unobserved Heterogeneity ◽  
Risky Choice ◽  
Probability Weighting ◽  
Disappointment Aversion ◽  
Diminishing Marginal Utility ◽  
Standard Risk ◽  
Small Probabilities

We use data on insurance deductible choices to estimate a structural model of risky choice that incorporates “standard” risk aversion (diminishing marginal utility for wealth) and probability distortions. We find that probability distortions—characterized by substantial overweighting of small probabilities and only mild insensitivity to probability changes—play an important role in explaining the aversion to risk manifested in deductible choices. This finding is robust to allowing for observed and unobserved heterogeneity in preferences. We demonstrate that neither Kőszegi-Rabin loss aversion alone nor Gul disappointment aversion alone can explain our estimated probability distortions, signifying a key role for probability weighting. (JEL D14, D81, G22)

Diminishing Marginal Utility Revisited

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miles S. Kimball ◽  
Fumio Ohtake ◽  
Daniel H. Reck ◽  
Yoshiro Tsutsui ◽  
Fudong Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Marginal Utility ◽  
Diminishing Marginal Utility

Diminishing Utility Decision Model for Weighting Criteria

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (06) ◽  
pp. 1263-1284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jih-Jeng Huang ◽  
Masahiro Inuiguchi
Keyword(s):  
Analytic Hierarchy Process ◽  
Decision Model ◽  
Marginal Utility ◽  
Analytic Network Process ◽  
Analytic Hierarchy ◽  
Numerical Examples ◽  
Absorbing State ◽  
Network Process ◽  
Diminishing Marginal Utility ◽  
Hierarchy Process

The analytic hierarchy/network process (analytic hierarchy process (AHP)/analytic network process (ANP)) became the most popular tool for weighting criteria in the field of multiple criteria analysis during the 1980s. However, these models often suffer from criticisms because of their theoretical and practical problems. In this paper, the diminishing utility decision model (DUDM) is proposed in order to retain the pros and avoid the cons of the AHP and ANP for weighting criteria. The DUDM integrates the AHP and the concept of diminishing marginal utility in order to model the main and interaction weights of criteria, respectively. From the results of the numerical examples, it can be seen that the proposed method can solve two major limitations of the ANP. First, the proposed method can significantly reduce the number of questions that are asked in the ANP. Second, the proposed method can ensure convergence in many situations and avoid the problem of the ANP with regard to the absorbing state.

Do Good Things Come in Small Packages? Bottle Size Effects on Willingness to Pay for Pomegranate Wine and Grape Wine

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas C. Drichoutis ◽  
Stathis Klonaris ◽  
Georgia S. Papoutsi
Keyword(s):  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Size Effects ◽  
Marginal Utility ◽  
Signal Quality ◽  
Quality Changes ◽  
Sweet Wines ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Grape Wine ◽  
Diminishing Marginal Utility ◽  
Jel Classifications

AbstractWe evaluate the claim that bottle size formats signal quality changes by performing a controlled laboratory experiment in which we simultaneously auction two different sweet wines: a pomegranate wine and a grape wine. We vary the size of the bottle from 500 mL to 750 mL between participants, but we keep the amount of wine constant across the bottle sizes. We also explore the effect of expectations for the wines, blind tasting, and information about wine attributes on people's willingness to pay (WTP). For both wines, we find evidence consistent with diminishing marginal utility; for the pomegranate wine, we find a premium for the smaller bottle size, which is consistent with changes in the wine's perceived quality. We also find that information is adequate in offsetting the negative effect of the tasting treatment. (JEL Classifications: C23, C24, C91, D12, M31)

The Psychology Of Marginal Utility

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xilin Li ◽  
Christopher K Hsee
Keyword(s):  
Rational Choice ◽  
Marginal Utility ◽  
Current Level ◽  
Monetary Reward ◽  
Monetary Rewards ◽  
Series Of Experiments ◽  
Diminishing Marginal Utility ◽  
Sensitization Effect

Abstract That wealth has diminishing marginal utility is a fact of life, and that people be sensitive to their current level of wealth when deciding whether to pursue additional wealth is a requirement of rational choice. A series of experiments, spanning diverse contexts, reveal marginal-utility neglect—that people are rather insensitive to their current wealth when deciding how much effort to expend to acquire a monetary reward (e.g., how long to walk to claim a voucher). Moreover, the experiments demonstrate that a marginal-utility-prompting manipulation, which prompts people to consider their current wealth and their need for the reward given their current wealth, produces a significant sensitization effect—making financially richer (vs. less rich) individuals less (vs. more) willing to seek the reward. This manipulation is more effective than either prompting people to consider their current wealth alone or consider their need for the reward alone, suggesting that marginal-utility prompting does not merely draw people’s attention to their current wealth or merely draw their attention to their need for the reward, but links the two elements. This research elucidates the psychology of marginal utility and yields implications beyond the pursuit of monetary rewards.

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