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.
"Professor Kolm continues his deep investigations into the nature of justice and, in particular, just income transfers. He justifies his proposal on the basis that justice is determined by the values of the society. In the course of his examination, he probes into the logic of many aspects of justice and the various theories currently under discussion." Kenneth Arrow, Stanford University
"Macrojustice, which concerns the overall distribution of economic wealth, is a prominent and time-honored object of philosophical and social science scholarship, the current relevance of which is highlighted by the widening economic disparities of recent decades. Serge-Christophe Kolm, who not only possesses an impressive breadth of knowledge of this literature but also is a prolific contributor to it, proposes and thoroughly defends an ambitious theory in this tome that, to its credit, integrates the concepts of basic needs, efficiency, proportionality and desert based on a structure of freedom, impartiality and information, and that sets a very high standard for work in this area." James D. Konow, Loyola Marymount University
"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
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Cambridge University Press; Illustrated版 (2005/2/17)
