This volume has its origins in a conference on “Justice, Political Liberalism, and Utilitarianism in Honour of John Harsanyi and John Rawls” that was held at the Université de Caen in June 1996. This conference received generous financial support from the Association pour le Développement de la Recherche en Économie et en Statistique, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, the Centre de Recherche en Économie et Management (UMR-CNRS 6211), the Université de Caen, and the Ville de Caen.

We are grateful to the scholars who served as referees of the individual chapters, to Pascal Engel for his help in the organization of the Caen conference, and to Cathy Zebron who assisted with the preparation of the final manuscript. At Cambridge University Press, thanks are due to Patrick McCartan, who responded so favorably when this volume was first proposed to him, and to Scott Parris, who has been our editor from the outset. We are particularly grateful to our contributors and to Scott for their patience and encouragement during the inordinately long time it has taken to bring this project to fruition.