Macrojustice
The Political Economy of Fairness

This text explores the concept of 'macrojustice' for determining a fair distribution of resources in society.

Serge-Christophe Kolm (Author)

9780521835039, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 December 2004

544 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 3.5 cm, 0.88 kg

"Serge Kolm is one of the most prolific and deeply original thinkers of our time. His footsteps are engraved in many research areas including normative economics, public economics, and political philosophy....even these skeptical readers would no doubt find the experience of being exposed to Kolmas ideas/reasonings fascinating and rewarding in rethinking and reorienting his/her own conceptions of fairness. It gives me pleasure to recommend this book to those who would like to think systematically about fairness." Kotaro Suzumura, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University

The main features of the just society, as they would be chosen by the unanimous, impartial, and fully informed judgment of its members, present a remarkable and simple meaningful structure. In this society, individuals' freedom is fully respected, and overall redistribution amounts to an equal sharing of individuals' different earnings obtained by the same limited 'equalization labour'. The concept of equalization labour is a measure of the degree of community, solidarity, reciprocity, redistribution, and equalization of the society under consideration. It is determined by a number of methods presented in this study, which also emphasizes the rationality, meanings, properties, and ways of practical implementation of this optimum distribution. This result is compared with the various distributive principles found in practice and in political, philosophical, and economic thinking, with the conclusion that most have their proper specific scope of application. The analytical presentation of the social ethics of economics is particularly enlightening.

Part I. Bases: Consensus, Freedoms and Capacities: 1. Macrojustice: an overview of its place, method, structure and result
2. Social freedom
3. The liberal theory
4. Free and equal in rights
5. Resources
6. Capacities
Part II. Overall Distributive Justice: ELIE (Equal Labour Income Equalization): 7. Equal labour income equalization: general presentation
8. Models of labour and productivity
9. Equal duration income equalization
10. Information
11. Income justice
12. General equal labour income equalization: the model
13. Involuntary unemployment
Part III. Comparisons with Policies and Philosophies: 14. Comparisons: general issues
15. Comparison with distributive schemes
16. Comparison with philosophies
Part IV. The Degree of Community, Equality, Reciprocity, and Solidarity: 17. The degree of redistribution, solidarity, community, and reciprocity
18. Impartiality, consensus, and information
19. Disinterested judgments and the moral surplus
20. Communication and dialogue
21. Impartialization and consensus
Part V. Comparison with Economics' Social Ethics: 22. Related economic values
23. The structure and substance of distributive principles
24. Happiness and freedom
25. Freedoms, responsibility, desert, merit, equality of opportunity, capacities, capabilities, basic needs
26. The theory of equivalence
27. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Labour economics [KCF], Economics [KC], Political science & theory [JPA], Sociology & anthropology [JH], Philosophy [HP]