INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND SOCIAL EVALUATION - A CONCEPTUAL-FRAMEWORK

We propose a framework for the analysis of social choice and welfare w hich uses the informational basis of individual preference orderings o ver the pairs of conventionally defined social alternatives and social decision-making mechanisms. In particular, we consider the case where the decisionmaking mechanism is a rights-structure modelled as game f orms. We use this framework to clarify the role for individual prefere nces in conferring rights, in the realization of the conferred rights, and in describing the formal contents of rights. We also explore its implications for the controversial issue of the consistency of social choice and Sen's paradox of Paretian libertarianism.