Abstract
Liberal egalitarian theories of justice share the egalitarian ideal that inequalities due to factors beyond individual control should be eliminated. This justifies that individuals sometimes receive more (or less) than their marginal productivity, which in turn implies that a change in one individual’s effort sometimes will affect the post-tax income of others. What restrictions should we place on such distributive interdependencies? The article provides characterizations of three main classes of redistribution mechanisms on the basis of how this question is answered.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arneson R (1989) Equality and equal opportunity for welfare. Philos Stud 56: 159–194
Bossert W (1995) Redistribution mechanisms based on individual characteristics. Math Soc Sci 29: 1–17
Bossert W, Fleurbaey M (1996) Redistribution and compensation. Soc Choice Welf 13: 343–355
Cappelen A, Tungodden B (2003a) Responsibility and reward. Finanzarchiv 59: 120–140
Cappelen A, Tungodden B (2003b) Reward and responsibility: how should we be affected when others change their effort?. Politics Philos Econ 2: 191–211
Cappelen A, Tungodden B (2006a) A liberal egalitarian paradox. Econ Philos 22: 393–408
Cappelen A, Tungodden B (2006b) Relocating the responsibility cut: should more responsibility imply less redistribution?. Politics Philos Econ 5: 353–362
Cappelen A, Tungodden B (2007) Local autonomy and interregional equality. Soc Choice Welf 28: 443–460
Cappelen A, Tungodden B (2009a) Rewarding effort. Econ Theory 39(3): 425–441
Cappelen A, Tungodden B (2009b) Disability compensation and responsibility. Politics Philos Econ (forthcoming)
Cohen GA (1989) On the currency of egalitarian justice. Ethics 99: 906–944
Dworkin R (1981) What is equality? Part 2: equality of resources. Philos Public Aff 10: 283–345
Fleurbaey M (1994) On fair compensation. Theory Decis 36: 277–307
Fleurbaey M (1995a) Equal opportunity or equal social outcome. Econ Philos 11: 25–55
Fleurbaey M (1995b) The requisites of equal opportunity. In: Barnett WA, Moulin H, Salles M, Schofield N (eds) Social choice, welfare, and ethics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 37–54
Fleurbaey M (1995c) Three solutions for the compensation problem. J Econ Theory 65: 505–521
Fleurbaey M (1995d) Equality and responsibility. Eur Econ Rev 39: 683–689
Fleurbaey M (2008) Fairness, responsibility and welfare. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Fleurbaey M, Maniquet F (forthcoming) Compensation and responsibility. In: Arrow KJ, Sen AK, Suzumura K (eds) Handbook of social choice and welfare, vol. 2. North-Holland, Amsterdam
Iturbe-Ormaetxe I (1997) Redistribution and individual characteristics. Rev Econ Des 3: 45–55
Rawls J (1971) A theory of justice. Harvard University Press, Cambridge
Roemer J (1993) A pragmatic theory of responsibility for the egalitarian planner. Philos Public Aff 22: 146–166
Roemer J (1996) Theories of distributive justice. Harvard University Press, Cambridge
Roemer J (1998) Equality of opportunity. Harvard University Press, Cambridge
Tungodden B (2005) Responsibility and redistribution: the case of first best taxation. Soc Choice Welf 25: 75–84
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cappelen, A.W., Tungodden, B. Distributive interdependencies in liberal egalitarianism. Soc Choice Welf 36, 35–47 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00355-010-0463-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00355-010-0463-8