Fairness and well-being measurement∗

We assume that economic justice requires resources to be allocated fairly. We construct individual well-being measures. These measures are required to respect agents ’ preferences. Interpersonal comparisons are required to depend on comparisons of the bundles of resources consumed by agents. We show that it is essential to take the nature of the goods consumed by agents into account. When all goods are perfectly divisible and more of the goods is always preferred to less, we axiomatically justify two main families of well-being measures. When only one good has those properties, then other requirements need to be imposed. We also justify two main families of well-being measures. In the general case of goods of all nature, the two pairs of families can be combined. JEL Classification: D63, I32