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Some studies show that high inequality [encourages] poor people to choose very high tax rates on the rich, which reduces investments and growth rates. That’s one [reason we should care.] Another thing we see very much nowadays is that the social stability and the social fabric of a society are torn apart if there are very large income ...
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These reasons for redistribution are strongest when the poor are very badly off, as in the cases Singer describes. But there will always be some reason of this kind as long as redistributing assets increases the well-being of the poor more than it decreases that of the rich. These reasons for eliminating inequality are also based on an idea of equa...
The possibility of making the poor better off does not seem to be the only reason for seeking to reduce the worlds rising level of economic inequality. Many people in the United States seem to believe that our high and rising level of inequality is objectionable in itself, and it is worth inquiring into why this might be so. This inquiry is importa...
Second, if inequality, in itself, is something to be concerned about, we need to explain why this is so. It is easy to understand why people want to be better off than they are, especially if their current condition is very bad. But why, apart from this, should anyone be concerned with the difference between what they have and what others have? Why...
1. Economic inequality can give wealthier people an unacceptable degree of control over the lives of others.
If wealth is very unevenly distributed in a society, wealthy people often end up in control of many aspects of the lives of poorer citizens: over where and how they can work, what they can buy, and in general what their lives will be like. As an example, ownership of a public media outlet, such as a newspaper or a television channel, can give contr...
Economic inequality makes it difficult, if not impossible, to create equality of opportunity. Income inequality means that some children will enter the workforce much better prepared than others. And people with few assets find it harder to access the first small steps to larger opportunities, such as a loan to start a business or pay for an advanc...
4. Workers, as participants in a scheme of cooperation that produces national income, have a claim to a fair share of what they have helped to produce. What constitutes a fair share is of course controversial. One answer is provided by John Rawls Difference Principle, according to which inequalities in wealth and income are permissible if and only ...
Peter Singers powerful argument for altruistic giving draws on one moral relation we can stand in to others: the relation of being able to benefit them in some important way. With respect to this relation, to matter morally is to be someone whose welfare there is reason to increase.
But the objections to inequality that I have listed rest on a different moral relation. Its the relation between individuals who are participants in a cooperative scheme. Those who are related to us in this way matter morally in a further sense: they are fellow participants to whom the terms of our cooperation must be justifiable. In our current en...
These are not just objections to inequality and its consequences: they are at the same time challenges to the legitimacy of the system itself. The holdings of the rich are not legitimate if they are acquired through competition from which others are excluded, and made possible by laws that are shaped by the rich for the benefit of the rich. In thes...
T. M. Scanlon is Alford Professor of Natural Religion, Moral Philosophy, and Civil Polity at Harvard University.
May 14, 2020 · There are powerful arguments in support of why inequality requires urgent policy attention. For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Firstly, a society that has higher ...
Jun 18, 2020 · Inequality within most developed countries is higher today than it was 30 years ago. Growth in emerging economies has reduced inequality between nations, but the benefits have been unevenly spread within those economies. This column analyses what has happened, why we should care, and what can be done about inequality. Governments have not focused enough on pre-market policies that prevent ...
Sep 22, 2015 · Sustainable economies. Inequality drives status competition, which drives personal debt and consumerism. More equal societies promote the common good – they recycle more, spend more on foreign aid, score higher on the Global Peace Index. Business leaders in more equal countries rate international environmental agreements more highly.
Aug 14, 2024 · Excluding a certain group of people from good education, be it because of their insufficient income or gender or race, can never be good for the economy. High inequality, which effectively debars some people from full participation, translates into an issue of fairness or justice. It does so because it affects intergenerational mobility.
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Sep 16, 2014 · Reaction 2 to Top-Majority Inequality: Do care. If the big problem is the pulling away of the top from the middle, perhaps policy should be focused on helping the middle. The “new poor” are ...
