Extreme inequality aversion without separability

Hammond (J Econ Theory 11, 465-467, 1975), Meyer (J Econ Theory 11, 119-132, 1975), and Lambert (The distribution and redistribution of income Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2001) provide the formal result connecting leximin and the idea of extreme inequality aversion for social preferences of the expected utility type. Using an analogous approach, we show that for social preferences not necessarily satisfying the separability axiom that underlies expected utility theory, the case of extreme inequality aversion is covered by the class of weakly maximin social preferences - i.e., the class of social preferences that give priority to the worst off in all cases in which the worst off is not indifferent.