Theoretical Paper
Journal of the Operational Research Society (2006) 57, 1241–1247. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jors.2602103 Published online 7 December 2005
An analytical framework for aggregating multiattribute utility functions
J González-Pachón1 and C Romero1
1Technical University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Correspondence: J González-Pachón, Facultad de Informática, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Campus de Montegancedo s/n, 28660-Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, Spain. E-mail: jgpachon@fi.upm.es
Received September 2004; Accepted August 2005; Published online 7 December 2005.
Abstract
This paper proposes a procedure for aggregating individual cardinal utility functions into a social utility function that represents the preferences of all the individuals as a whole. The procedure is non-interactive and is based upon the determination of the utility consensus values. This is accomplished by minimizing a distance function model that is transformed into an Archimedean goal programming problem. The procedure is applied to a general group multilinear utility function.
Keywords:
social choice, aggregation of preferences, goal programming, utility
