The Mere Busybody: Autonomy, Equality and Standing

Local autonomy and interregional equality

This paper shows how two important interregional transfer schemes, the foundation grant and the power equalization grant scheme, can be seen as two different interpretations of equal opportunity ethics. It provides characterizations of both transfer schemes by theuse of basic liberal egalitarianprinciples. Both the foundation grant and the power equalization grant scheme make use of specific re...

Equality and Autonomy in First Amendment Jurisprudence

Health equality, social justice and the poverty of autonomy.

How does the concept of autonomy assist public responses to 'lifestyle' diseases? Autonomy is fundamental to bioethics, but its emphasis on self-determination and individuality hardly supports public health policies to eat and drink less and take more exercise. Autonomy rejects a 'nanny' state. Yet, the cost of non-communicable diseases is increasing to individuals personally and to public heal...

Measuring Future Grandparents’ Preferences for Equality and Relative Standing*

Individuals’ aversion to risk and inequality, and their concern for relative standing, are measured through experimental choices between hypothetical societies. It is found that, on average, individuals are both fairly inequality-averse and have a strong concern for relative income. The results are used to illustrate welfare consequences based on a utilitarian SWF and a modified CRRA utility fu...

Don’t Always Prefer My Chosen Objects: Low Level of Trait Autonomy and Autonomy Deprivation Decreases Mere Choice Effect

Choice effect is a robust phenomenon in which even "mere choice" that does not include actual choosing actions could result in more preference for the self-chosen objects over other-chosen objects. In the current research, we proposed that autonomy would impact the mere choice effect. We conducted two studies to examine the hypothesis. The results showed that the mere choice effect measured by ...