The interplay between intergenerational justice and mathematical utility theory

Intergenerational justice has produced nice arguments in relation to the existence and the non-existence of utility representations of social welfare orderings on infinite chains of social states. Rather surprisingly, nearly all results neglect the extensive literature on mathematical utility theory. This chapter is an attempt to draw a bridge between both fields. In fact, we show that techniques and results from the latter discipline may be quite enlightening in the analysis of the intergenerational aggregation of utilities. Conversely, conclusions about social welfare binary relations that are relevant in the intergenerational debate facilitate the investigation of their Richter-Peleg representability. The interplay between mathematical utility theory and intergenerational justice becomes apparent.