Exploitation and economic justice in the liberal capitalist state / by Mark R. Reiff.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Reiff, Mark R., 1957-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Capitalism.

Liberalism.

Equality.

Distributive justice.

Economics--Moral and ethical aspects.

Economics.

Physical Description:

x, 348 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2013.

Summary:

Exploitation and Economic Justice in the Liberal Capitalist State develops the first new, liberal theory of economic justice to appear since John Rawls and Ronald Dworkin proposed their respective theories back in the 1970s and early 1980s. It does this by presenting a new, liberal egalitarian, non-Marxist theory of exploitation that is designed to be a creature of capitalism, not a critique of it. Indeed, the book shows how we can regulate economic inequality using the presuppositions of capitalism and political liberalism that we already accept. In doing this, the book uses two concepts or tools: a reconceived notion of the ancient doctrine of the just price, and the author's own concept of intolerable unfairness. The resulting theory can then function as either a supplement to, or a replacement for, the difference principle and luck egalitarianism, the two most popular liberal egalitarian theories of economic justice of today. It provides a new, highly topical, specific moral justification not only for raising the minimum wage, but also for imposing a maximum wage, for continuing to impose an estate tax on the wealthiest members of society, and for prohibiting certain kinds of speculative trading, including trading in derivatives such as the now infamous credit default swap and other related exotic financial instruments. Finally, it provides a new specific moral justification for dealing with certain aspects of climate change now, regardless of what other nations do. Yet it is still designed to be the object of an overlapping consensus - that is, it is designed to be acceptable to those who embrace a wide range of comprehensive moral and political doctrines, not only liberal egalitarianism, but right and left libertarianism too. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Exploitation and Justice 25

1.1 Exploitation and Marx 28

1.2 Exploitation after Marx 32

1.3 Exploitation as a Liberal Egalitarian Theory of Distributive Justice 44

2 Exploitation and the Just Price 51

2.1 The Just Price in the Ancient World 51

2.2 The Just Price in the Medieval World 55

2.3 The Just Price in the Renaissance, the Age of Enlightenment, and on into the Modem World 62

2.4 What the History of Just Price Theory Has to Tell Us About Exploitation 73

3 The Limits of Exploitation 80

3.1 Gifts 80

3.2 Commodification 82

3.3 Contraband 83

3.4 Capacity 84

3.5 Voluntariness 84

3.6 Value 94

4 What Price is Just? 101

4.1 Market Price vs Cost of Production 101

4.2 Accounting vs Economic Cost 109

4.3 Marginal vs Average Total Cost 111

4.4 Private vs Social Cost 117

4.5 Accounting for Time 120

4.6 Calculating the Cost of Labor 126

4.6.1 Subsistence and Contextual Basic Needs 127

4.6.2 When Compensation is Excessive 137

5 Exploitation and Intolerable Unfairness 154

5.1 The Scope of the Principle of Toleration 154

5.2 Three Reasons for Toleration 156

5.3 Toleration and Sales below the Just Price 158

5.4 Toleration and Sales above the Just Price 164

5.4.1 The First Level of Tolerable Unfairness 164

5.4.2 The Second Level of Tolerable Unfairness 171

5.4.3 Intolerable Unfairness 174

5.5 Toleration and Innovation 178

5.5.1 The Investor and the Entrepreneur 179

5.5.2 The Problem of Skew 183

5.5.3 The Definition of "Goods" 186

5.6 The Nature and Role of Profit 189

6 Implementation and Enforcement 194

6.1 The Indeterminacy of the View from Nowhere 194

6.2 The Minimum Wage and Unemployment 197

6.3 The Maximum Wage and the Flight of the Talented 204

6.4 Minimum Prices and Public and Private Goods 211

6.5 Maximum Prices and the Redistribution of Excess Profits 212

6.6 The Fear of Full Employment and Inflation 216

6.7 Maximum Profitability and the Recognition of Income 226

6.8 Exploitation and the Estate and Gift Tax 228

6.9 Exploitation and Speculation 233

6.10 Exploitation and Arbitrage 257

6.11 Exploitation and Climate Change 260

7 The Prospects for an Overlapping Consensus 273

7.1 Exploitation and Libertarianism 274

7.1.1 The Place of the Just Price in the Structure of Libertarian Thought 275

7.1.2 Self-Ownership, Equal Liberty, and Negative Liberty 284

7.2 Exploitation and Luck Egalitarianism 295

7.3 Exploitation and the Difference Principle 299

7.4 Exploitation, Equality of Opportunity, and the Demographics of Inequality 302.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [305]-335) and index.

ISBN:

9780199664009

0199664005

OCLC:

812686127