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arXiv · 2603.06820

Hippocratic Utility and Status Quo Bias

Tomasz Strzalecki
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Abstract

A utility function has been proposed that values more lives that are lost than those that are saved. I do not dispute the ethical motivation behind this kind of asymmetry. However, I show with a simple example that the scope of applicability of such a decision criterion is considerably more limited than it may first appear.

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Tomasz Strzalecki. 2026-03-06. Hippocratic Utility and Status Quo Bias. https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.06820

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