Justice (economics)

'Just' in many usages, including economic ones, may "express" ethical acceptance of some possible "social" state(s) against which other possible social states are measured. By contrast, the usage of justice in economics is as a subcategory of welfare economics with models frequently representing the ethical-social requirements of a given theory. [Developed along more general lines in Allan Gibbard (1990). "Wise Choices, Apt Feelings".] That theory may or may not elicit acceptance. In the Journal of Economic Literature classification codes 'justice' is scrolled to at , wedged on the same line between 'Equity' and 'Inequality' along with 'Other Normative Criteria and Measurement'. Categories above and below the line are Externalities and Altruism.

In early welfare economics, where mentioned, 'justice' was little distinguished from maximization of all individual utility functions or a social welfare function. As to the latter, this need not slight an ordinary notion of justice. Samuelson (1947, p. 221) [Paul A. Samuelson (1947), "Foundations of Economic Analysis," ch. VIII] describes a social welfare function (or social ordering) as representing "any" ethical belief system required to order "any" (hypothetically feasible) social states for the entire society as "better than," "worse than," or "indifferent to" each other.

Sen (1987) [Amartya Sen (1987), "justice," "", v. 2, pp. 1039-43.] outlines ways in which utilitarianism as an approach to justice is constrained or challenged by independent claims of equality in the distribution of primary goods, [John Rawls (1971), "A Theory of Justice".] liberty and entitlements, [Robert Nozick (1974), "Anarchy, State, and Utopia".] exclusion of antisocial preferences, possible capabilities, [Amartya K. Sen (1985), "Commodities and Capabilities".] and fairness as non-envy plus Pareto efficiency.

In the recent literature, a broad reinterpretation of justice from the perspective of game theory, social contract theory, and evolutionary naturalism is found in works of Ken Binmore (1994, 1998, 2004). [Ken Binmore (1994, 1998), "Game Theory and the Social Contract", 2 v.] [Ken Binmore (2004), "Natural Justice".] Arguments on fairness as an aspect of justice have been invoked to explain a wide range of behavioral and theoretical appplications, supplementing earlier emphasis on economic efficiency (Konow, 2003). [James Konow (2003), "Which Is the Fairest One of All? A Positive Analysis of Justice Theories," "Journal of Economic Literature", 41(4), p. 1188.]

Notes

Bibliography

* A.B. Atkinson (1982). "Social Justice and Public Policy." [http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=UiZ2HdkNHBAC&oi=fnd&pg=PP11&dq=%22Social+Justice+and+Public+Policy%22&ots=-6iPmku71A&sig=yACP-Kt6h174KR5dh3lsPDfGX64#PPP1,M1 Contents & chapter previews.]
* Kenneth J. Arrow (1983). "Collected Papers of Kenneth J. Arrow", v. 1, "Social Choice and Justice"
* Ken Binmore. "Game Theory and the Social Contract" [http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=8232 Pub. description.] :(1994). v. 1: "Playing Fair". (moral and political theory from a game-theoretical perspective) :(1998), v. 2: "Just Playing". (Humean & evolutionary naturalism to defend Rawls's original position)
*____ {2004). "Natural Justice". [http://www.us.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Economics/Political/?ci=0195178114&view=usa Pub. description and review comments.]
* Jon Elster (1989). "Social Norms and Economic Theory," "Journal of Economic Perspectives", 3(4), p [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0895-3309%28198923%293%3A4%3C99%3ASNAET%3E2.0.CO%3B2-M&size=LARGE&origin=JSTOR-enlargePage p. 99] -11.
* Marc Fleurbaey (2008). [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/economic-justice/ "Economics and Economic Justice"] , "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy".
* Norman Geras (1985). "The Controversy about Marx and Justice," "New Left Review", 150, pp. 47-85.
* Allan Gibbard (1990). "Wise Choices, Apt Feelings". [http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/GIBWIS.html Pub. description.]
* Daniel M. Hausman and Michael S. McPherson (1996, 2nd ed. 2006). "Economic Analysis and Moral Philosophy", Part III: Liberty, rights, equality, and justice, pp. 117-62.
* Peter J. Hammond (1987). "altruism," "", v. 1, pp. 85-87.
* Serge-Christophe Kolm (1996). "Modern Theories of Justice". [http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=i2Fm6Wvrrh8C&oi=fnd&pg=PA3&ots=Edwb_esM2V&sig=kP1Hb2pUj92_M1owS1WnFTFQmCo Excerpts] & [http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=8983 pub. description.]
* James Konow (2003). "Which Is the Fairest One of All? A Positive Analysis of Justice Theories," "Journal of Economic Literature", 41(4), p [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-0515%28200312%2941%3A4%3C1188%3AWITFOO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X&size=LARGE&origin=JSTOR-enlargePage p. 1188] -1239.
* Julian Lamont (2007). [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/justice-distributive/ "Distributive Justice"] , "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy".
* Julian Le Grand {1991). "Equity and Choice: An Essay in Economics and Applied Philosophy".
* Edmund S. Phelps. "distributive justice," "The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics" (1987):v. 1, pp. 886-88.
* Phillipe Mongin (2002). [http://ceco.polytechnique.fr/CHERCHEURS/MONGIN/PDF/Doc8.pdf "Is There Progress in Normative Economics?"] , same title in Stephan Boehm, et al., eds. (2002), "Is There Progress in Economics?".
* Edmund S. Phelps (1987). "distributive justice," "The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics", v. 1, pp. 886-88.
* Richard A. Posner (1981). "The Economics of Justice", ISBN 978-0-674-23526-7 [http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/POSECO.html Pub. description.]
* J.E.Roemer (1987). "Marxian Value Analysis". "The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics", v. 3, pp. 383-87.
* Matthew Rabin (1993). "Incorporating Fairness into Game Theory and Economics," "American Economic Review", 83(5), p [http://ceco.polytechnique.fr/CHERCHEURS/MONGIN/PDF/Doc8.pdf p. 1281] -1302.
* Paul A. Samuelson (1947). "Foundations of Economic Analysis", ch. VIII, "Welfare Economics."
*Amartya K. Sen (1970), "Collective Choice and Social Welfare"::ch. 9, "Equity and Justice," pp. 131-51:ch. 9*, "Impersonality and Collective Quasi-Orderings," pp. 152-160.
* _____ (1985). "Commodities and Capabilities". [http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Economics/Developmental/?view=usa&ci=9780195650389 Pub. description.]
* _____ (1987). "justice," "The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economics", v. 2, pp. 1039-43.
*_____ (2008). "justice," "The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics", 2nd Edition [http://www.dictionaryofeconomics.com/article?id=pde2008_J000033&q=justice&topicid=&result_number=1 Abstract.]
* Bertil Tungodden (2008). "justice (new perspectives)," "The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics," 2nd Edition. [http://www.dictionaryofeconomics.com/article?id=pde2008_J000052&q=justice&topicid=&result_number=2 Abstract.]

ee also

* Distribution (economics)
* Distributive justice
* Equity (economics)
* Extended sympathy
* Fair division
* Normative economics
* Social choice theory
* Social justice
* Social welfare function