# Justifications of Welfare Guarantees under Normalized Utilities

## TL;DR

This paper discusses the reasons for using normalized utilities in welfare analysis within computational social choice and introduces a new, normative justification for this approach, highlighting its broader applicability.

## Contribution

It presents a new normative justification for normalized utilities in welfare analysis, expanding their conceptual use as a social objective.

## Key findings

- Normalized utilities are justified by multiple reasons in social choice.
- A new normative justification for normalized utilities is proposed.
- The central concept can serve as a broader social objective.

## Abstract

It is standard in computational social choice to analyse welfare considerations under the assumptions of normalized utilities. In this note, we summarize some common reasons for this approach. We then mention another justification which is ignored but has solid normative appeal. The central concept used in the `new' justification can also be used more widely as a social objective.