This anthology debates the idea of giving all people – no matter which profession or position they have (and whether they have a job or not) – the same pay. Some contributors argue against equal pay for all, some for increased pay equality but not for total pay equality, and some argue for equal pay for all. There is no common conclusion in the book; instead, the book aims to encourage reflection as well as further debate on something that is often taken for granted, namely differentiated pay, by offering a set of various standpoints in the debate, backed-up with various kinds of arguments. Among bases for arguments that are put forward in the book, economy, practicability and ethics belong to the most frequently occurring ones. This book is the first one to be published in the book series Palgrave Debates in Business and Management.
Author(s): Anders Örtenblad
Series: Palgrave Debates in Business and Management
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 320
City: Cham
Foreword
References
Praise for Debating Equal Pay for All
Contents
Notes on Contributors
List of Figures
List of Tables
1: Background and Introduction: Why Debating Equal Pay for All?
Book Content: The Chapters and Their Arguments
Part I: Against Equal Pay for All
Part II: Against Equal Pay for All But for Equal Minimum Income for All
Part III: Toward Increased Pay Equality
Part IV: For Equal Pay for All
Part V: Afterword
References
Part I: Against Equal Pay for All
2: Equal Pay for All: An Idea Whose Time Has Not, and Will Not, Come
What, Exactly, Is EPI?
On the Inefficiency of EPI
The Empirical Work on Justice
References
3: Universal Equal Pay Wrong-foots the Distribution of Incomes
Distribution of Individual Wages
Distribution of Household Incomes in Relation to Wages
Important Implications
Conclusions
References
4: More Onerous Work Deserves Higher Pay
The Luck Challenge Examined: Deserving to Deserve
Compensatory Desert: Why Responsibility Is Not Required
Does Work Come with Different Goods and Bads?
Do People Choose Their Job?
The Compensatory Desert Principle
Compensatory Desert in Practice
Objections
Conclusion
References
5: Equal Pay for Knowledge Workers in Academia: An Unrealistic Proposition
Knowledge Worker, an Idealistic Call or Just Another Job
Do We Need Incentives?
Unequal Pay for Individual Motivation
Unequal Pay as a Tool for Change
Competition and Unequal Pay
Pay Versus Other Incentives
Honors
Special Privileges
Differentiated Pay
Conclusions
References
Part II: Against Equal Pay for All But for Equal Minimum Income for All
6: Equal Pay: A Floor Not a Ceiling
The Equal-Pay Proposal
The Economic Functions of Unequal Wages
The Immorality of Equal Pay
EPP Is Not Egalitarian
EPP Infringes Liberty
EPP Is Unfair to Sellers
EPP Is Self-defeating
An Equal Minimum, Not an Equal Maximum
Conclusion
References
7: Limiting Insecurity, Not Opportunity
Introduction
The Economy Today
Equal Wages
Basic Income
Conclusion
References
Part III: Toward Increased Pay Equality
8: A “Middle Way” Between the Free Market and Full Equality: A Pay Ratio
The Scale of Pay Inequality
The Right’s Rejection of Egalitarianism
The Either/Or Dichotomy
Greater Equality Entails State Control
The Rich Are Wealth Creators
Pursuing Equality Will Cause the Rich to Emigrate
The Case for a “Pay Ratio”
A “Pay Ratio”: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?
Conclusion
References
9: Closing the Gap: The Benefits of Lowering Pay Ratios
Introduction
Fairness, Pay Ratios, and Public Expectations
Examining Policy Initiatives
Conclusion
References
10: How Fair Is Equal Pay? The Need for a More Balanced Perspective
Introduction
Arguments for Pay Equality
What Are the Benefits?
Where Pay Equality Might Work?
Arguments Against Pay Equality
Resolving These Arguments and the Way Forward for a Modern, Progressive Economy
References
11: Are There Moral Limits to Wage Inequality?
Wage Inequality in Labor Markets
Freedom, Coercion, and Wage Offers
Moral Limits to Wage Inequality
References
12: Equal Pay for a Green Future
Introduction
Income Gaps and Job Losses
Globalization and Technology Unemployment
Climate and the Natural Environment
Toward a New Agenda
An Absurdity Perspective
A “Dugnad” Perspective
Ingredients of a New Agenda
Taxation for Inequality
Taxation for Climate and Environment Mitigation
Helplessness, Security and Flourishing
Concluding Remarks
References
Part IV: For Equal Pay for All
13: Can a Honduran Have What a Norwegian Has? Equal Pay for All Countries: An Exploration
Two Leaps in Scale
Inequality between Countries
Distributive Justice: Theories and Experiments
An Actual Test
Solutions: Mechanisms and Policies
Conclusions and Recommended Reading
Appendix
References
14: Economic Equality as a Precondition for Democracy and Social Justice
Introduction
Part I
Part II
Part III
Conclusion
References
15: Defending Equal Pay for All Against Objections from the Achievement Principle
What Is the Achievement Principle?
The Achievement Principle as Justification for Unequal Pay
A Rejoinder in Four Points
Conclusion
References
16: Equal Pay as a Precondition of Justice?
Introduction
Equality and Justice
The Just World Fallacy
An Argument for Equal Pay
Concluding Remarks
References
17: Equal Pay for All (Per Hour Worked)
References
Part V: Afterword
18: Afterword: Equality, Not Equal Pay—Distributional Justice Beyond Money
Introduction
Money as a System of Production
Money as a Labor-Driven Phenomenon
Differentiated Output, Differentiated Value
Universal Commons, Not Equal Pay
Conclusion
References
Index
