A framework for expected capability sets

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new framework inspired by the capability approach for decision-making under uncertainty with multiple objectives, focusing on selecting policies that lead to sets of citizen choices based on likelihoods of states.

Contribution

It proposes two novel procedures to merge potential choice sets across uncertain states without requiring preference information, satisfying key decision-making properties.

Findings

Procedures effectively combine choice sets considering likelihoods.

Framework supports decision-aiding with multiple objectives and uncertainty.

Properties ensure desirable outcomes in policy selection.

Abstract

This paper addresses decision-aiding problems that involve multiple objectives and uncertain states of the world. Inspired by the capability approach, we focus on cases where a policy maker chooses an act that, combined with a state of the world, leads to a set of choices for citizens. While no preferential information is available to construct importance parameters for the criteria, we can obtain likelihoods for the different states. To effectively support decision-aiding in this context, we propose two procedures that merge the potential set of choices for each state of the world taking into account their respective likelihoods. Our procedures satisfy several fundamental and desirable properties that characterize the outcomes.