Capitalist societies are full of unacceptable inequalities. Freedom is of paramount importance. These two convictions are widely shared across the world, yet they seem to be completely contradictory with each other. Fighting inequality jeopardizes freedom, and taking freedom seriously boosts inequality. Can this conflict be resolved? In this ground-breaking book, Philippe Van Parijs sets out a new and compelling case for a just society. Assessing and rejecting the claims of both socialism and conventional capitalism, he presents a clear and compelling alternative vision of the just society: a capitalist society offering a substantial and unconditional basic income to all its members. Not just an exercise in political theory, this book goes on to show what his ideal of a free society means in the real world by drawing out its policy implications. It will be essential reading for anyone concerned about the just society and the welfare state as we move into the twenty-first century.
Author(s): Philippe Van Parijs
Year: 1998
Language: English
Pages: 344
0198293577......Page 1
CONTENTS......Page 12
INTRODUCTION......Page 14
Prologue......Page 16
1.1 Capitalism versus socialism......Page 18
1.2 Pure socialism as the free society......Page 20
1.3 Pure capitalism as the free society......Page 24
1.4 Individual versus collective sovereignty......Page 28
1.5 Freedom to what? Duty, autonomy, and potential desire......Page 30
1.6 Freedom from what? Two notions of coercion......Page 33
1.7 Formal freedom versus real freedom......Page 34
1.8 Real-libertarianism......Page 38
Prologue......Page 43
2.1 A radical suggestion......Page 45
2.2 Unconditionality and real freedom......Page 48
2.3 Sustainability......Page 51
2.4 Cash or kind?......Page 54
2.5 Initial endowment or regular instalment?......Page 58
2.6 What metric for real freedom?......Page 61
2.7 Competitive pricing, opportunity costs, and envy-freeness......Page 64
2.8 Comparing real freedom across regimes......Page 67
Appendix: Basic income versus negative income tax......Page 70
Prologue......Page 71
3.1 The extended auction......Page 73
3.2 Working in the peep-show, flirting in the square......Page 76
3.3 Insurance behind a veil of ignorance......Page 78
3.4 Four objections to Dworkin......Page 81
3.5 Ackerman generalized......Page 85
3.6 Not enough redistribution?......Page 90
3.7 Alternative strategies......Page 92
3.8 Too much redistribution?......Page 95
Appendix 1: Roemer versus Dworkin......Page 97
Appendix 2: Affluence, opulence, abundance, and minimum income guarantees......Page 99
Appendix 3: Undominated diversity and envy-freeness......Page 100
Prologue......Page 102
4.1 The Crazy–Lazy challenge......Page 105
4.2 Rawls versus Dworkin......Page 109
4.3 Can our inheritance be boosted?......Page 115
4.4 Equal endowments in a non-Walrasian world......Page 119
4.5 Sharing, bribing, and the elimination of job scarcity......Page 122
4.6 From job auctions to income tax......Page 126
4.7 An inconsistent proposal? Employment rents with unequal talents......Page 132
4.8 A slippery slope? From the right to work to the right to marry......Page 138
Appendix: Crazy, Lazy, and Rawls's revised Difference Principle......Page 144
Prologue......Page 146
5.1 Deriving an advantage from someone's work......Page 149
5.2 Power, gifts, free rides......Page 153
5.3 Lockean exploitation......Page 158
5.4 Creators keepers......Page 163
5.5 Lutheran exploitation......Page 166
5.6 To each according to her efforts......Page 173
5.7 Roemerian exploitation......Page 182
5.8 Asset-based inequality......Page 191
Prologue......Page 199
6.1 Optimal capitalism versus optimal socialism......Page 204
6.2 The capitalist shaping of preferences......Page 208
6.3 Market failures and dispensable activities......Page 212
6.4 Crises......Page 216
6.5 The reserve army of the unemployed......Page 223
6.6 Creative destruction......Page 227
6.7 Popular sovereignty......Page 233
6.8 Steering clear of Penguins Island......Page 239
Notes......Page 247
References......Page 312
E......Page 332
M......Page 333
T......Page 334
Y......Page 335
C......Page 336
E......Page 337
J......Page 339
O......Page 340
S......Page 341
U......Page 342
W......Page 343
