Skip to main content
  • Book
  • © 2021

Conversations on Social Choice and Welfare Theory - Vol. 1

  • Presents conversations with the founding fathers of modern social choice and welfare theory
  • Offers brief history of social choice and welfare theory
  • Includes interviews with Nobel Laureates, such as Kenneth Arrow, John Harsanyi, Paul Samuelson, and Amartya Sen

Part of the book series: Studies in Choice and Welfare (WELFARE)

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.

Table of contents (16 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-viii
  2. A Brief History of Social Choice and Welfare Theory

    • Marc Fleurbaey, Maurice Salles
    Pages 1-16
  3. Foundations

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 17-17
    2. Kenneth J. Arrow

      • J. S. Kelly
      Pages 19-36
    3. John C. Harsanyi

      • Claude d’Aspremont, Peter J. Hammond
      Pages 37-48
    4. Paul A. Samuelson

      • Kotaro Suzumura
      Pages 49-81
    5. Amartya Sen

      • W. Gaertner, P. K. Pattanaik
      Pages 83-94
  4. Developments

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 95-95
    2. Salvador Barberà

      • Carmen Beviá, Jordi Massó
      Pages 97-113
    3. John Broome

      • Richard Bradley, Marc Fleurbaey
      Pages 115-127
    4. Gabrielle Demange

      • Karine Van der Straeten
      Pages 129-139
    5. David Donaldson

      • Nick Baigent, Walter Bossert
      Pages 141-164
    6. Peter Fishburn

      • Steven Brams, William Gehrlein, Fred Roberts, Maurice Salles
      Pages 165-169
    7. Allan Gibbard

      • Matthew D. Adler, John A. Weymark
      Pages 171-207
    8. Peter J. Hammond

      • Philippe Mongin
      Pages 209-241
    9. Prasanta K. Pattanaik

      • Taradas Bandyopadhyay, Yongsheng Xu
      Pages 243-258
    10. John E. Roemer

      • Roberto Veneziani, Marc Fleurbaey
      Pages 259-278
    11. William Thomson

      • Youngsub Chun, Christopher P. Chambers
      Pages 279-288
    12. John A. Weymark

      • Felix Bierbrauer, Claude d’Aspremont
      Pages 289-334

About this book

This volume presents interviews that have been conducted from the 1980s to the present with important scholars of social choice and welfare theory. Starting with a brief history of social choice and welfare theory written by the book editors, it features 15 conversations with four Nobel Laureates and other key scholars in the discipline.

The volume is divided into two parts. The first part presents four conversations with the founding fathers of modern social choice and welfare theory: Kenneth Arrow, John Harsanyi, Paul Samuelson, and Amartya Sen. The second part includes conversations with scholars who made important contributions to the discipline from the early 1970s onwards. This book will appeal to anyone interested in the history of economics, and the history of social choice and welfare theory in particular.


Editors and Affiliations

  • Paris School of Economics, Paris, France

    Marc Fleurbaey

  • University of Caen-Normandy, Caen, France

    Maurice Salles

About the editors

Maurice Salles is Professor (emeritus) of Economics at the University of Caen-Normandy (France). He was coordinating editor of the Springer journal Social Choice and Welfare from 1984 to 2011 and President of the Society for Social Choice and Welfare in 2012/13. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Springer book series “Studies in Choice and Welfare". Moreover, Maurice is honorary research associate at CPNSS at the London School of Economics and member of the Murat Sertel Center at Bilgi University in Istanbul. He is presently working on the history of social choice theory, on (im)possibility of social choice with Nash independence of irrelevant alternatives and on the mathematical methods of social choice and voting theory.

Marc Fleurbaey is CNRS researcher and Professor at Paris School of Economics and Ecole normale supérieure (France). Until June 2020, he was Robert E. Kuenne Professor of Economics and Humanistic Studies and Professor ofPublic Affairs at Princeton University (USA). Author of Beyond GDP (with Didier Blanchet, OUP 2013), A Theory of Fairness and Social Welfare (with François Maniquet, CUP 2011), and Fairness, Responsibility and Welfare (OUP, 2008), he is one of the initiators of the International Panel on Social Progress, and lead author of its Manifesto for Social Progress (CUP 2018). He is a former editor of Social Choice and Welfareand Economics and Philosophy. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Springer book series “Studies in Choice and Welfare".


Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access