Having enough and not having too much: a characterization of sufficientarianism-limitarianism
Having enough and not having too much: a characterization of sufficientarianism-limitarianism
Sufficientarianism, a prominent framework in distributive justice, asserts that everyone should have enough resources to meet a minimum threshold. Limitarianism, by contrast, holds that no individual should possess more than a specified upper limit of income or wealth. While the latter has gained attention in political philosophy and policy debates, it remains largely unexplored in formal normative economics. This paper bridges this gap by offering an axiomatic characterization of a social welfare criterion that integrates sufficientarian and limitarian principles. We formalize these dual commitments and investigate their implications for resource allocation. The analysis sheds light on the theoretical underpinnings of this hybrid approach and its potential relevance for normative analysis.
Distributive Justice, Limitarianism, Social Welfare, Sufficientarianism
Ferreira, João V.
0aad606a-eab0-473c-a230-9b3dfa2d7d93
Savva, Foivos
8af4d90b-c08d-4133-93a1-3a8b3c2da24b
April 2025
Ferreira, João V.
0aad606a-eab0-473c-a230-9b3dfa2d7d93
Savva, Foivos
8af4d90b-c08d-4133-93a1-3a8b3c2da24b
Ferreira, João V. and Savva, Foivos
(2025)
Having enough and not having too much: a characterization of sufficientarianism-limitarianism.
Economics Letters, 250, [112286].
(doi:10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112286).
Abstract
Sufficientarianism, a prominent framework in distributive justice, asserts that everyone should have enough resources to meet a minimum threshold. Limitarianism, by contrast, holds that no individual should possess more than a specified upper limit of income or wealth. While the latter has gained attention in political philosophy and policy debates, it remains largely unexplored in formal normative economics. This paper bridges this gap by offering an axiomatic characterization of a social welfare criterion that integrates sufficientarian and limitarian principles. We formalize these dual commitments and investigate their implications for resource allocation. The analysis sheds light on the theoretical underpinnings of this hybrid approach and its potential relevance for normative analysis.
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ssrn-5106256 (1)
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More information
Submitted date: 21 January 2025
Accepted/In Press date: 13 March 2025
e-pub ahead of print date: 29 March 2025
Published date: April 2025
Keywords:
Distributive Justice, Limitarianism, Social Welfare, Sufficientarianism
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 498361
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/498361
ISSN: 0165-1765
PURE UUID: 9a361465-f8d7-4280-9690-249b8ee01bdc
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Date deposited: 17 Feb 2025 17:42
Last modified: 30 Aug 2025 02:08
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