The Distributive Justice of Income Inequality

Abstract

The dominant trend of political and social ideology in the twentieth century is such as to make many of us uncomfortable, as a matter of principle, with the acceptance of any form of inequality. Since inequality of wealth or income is one of the most permanent and salient features of the human condition, there is little question of not accepting inequality in practice. A discrepancy of such evident magnitude between principle and practice is cause for philosophical uneasiness.

I am indebted to Dean Jamison for several stimulating conversations about the normative theory of income distribution, and I also am indebted to him for several of the references to the economic literature. Georg Kreisel suggested a number of improvements of an earlier draft; I have benefited considerably from his detailed critique.