Combining leximax fairness and efficiency in a mathematical programming model

•Principled approach to balancing efficiency with Rawlsian leximax fairness.•Fairness-efficiency trade-off parameter with practical interpretation.•Tractable mixed integer programming model of equity-efficiency balance.•Applications to health care and earthquake shelter location.•Systematic comparis...

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Veröffentlicht in:European journal of operational research Jg. 299; H. 1; S. 235 - 248
Hauptverfasser: Chen, Violet Xinying, Hooker, J.N.
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Elsevier B.V 16.05.2022
Schlagworte:
Efficiency vs. equity
Ethics in OR
Leximax fairness
Efficiency vs. equity
Leximax fairness
Ethics in OR
ISSN:0377-2217, 1872-6860
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Zusammenfassung:•Principled approach to balancing efficiency with Rawlsian leximax fairness.•Fairness-efficiency trade-off parameter with practical interpretation.•Tractable mixed integer programming model of equity-efficiency balance.•Applications to health care and earthquake shelter location.•Systematic comparison with previous fairness-efficiency formulations. A trade-off between fairness and efficiency is an important element of many practical decisions. We propose a principled and practical method for balancing these two criteria in an optimization model. Following an assessment of existing schemes, we define a set of social welfare functions (SWFs) that combine Rawlsian leximax fairness and utilitarianism and overcome some of the weaknesses of previous approaches. In particular, we regulate the equity/efficiency trade-off with a single parameter that has a meaningful interpretation in practical contexts. We formulate the SWFs using mixed integer constraints and sequentially maximize them subject to constraints that define the problem at hand. We demonstrate the method on problems of realistic size involving healthcare resource allocation and disaster preparation, with solution times of several seconds at most.
ISSN:0377-2217
1872-6860
DOI:10.1016/j.ejor.2021.08.036