Equity Considerations in Public Risks Evaluation

Recent contributions by R. K. Sarin, and R. L. Keeney and R. L. Winkler, approach the problem of public risks evaluation from a multiattribute perspective in which fatalities, ex ante equity, and ex post equity play leading roles. The present paper considers the same problem from the perspective of holistic comparisons between potential fatality distributions. We consider a number of axioms for such comparisons, identify maximally compatible sets of axioms, and relate our approach to the multiattribute approach. We also identify a form of dispersive equity that is not discussed in recent work but deserves further consideration.