Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T06:54:56.066Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

ENTITLEMENT THEORY OF JUSTICE AND END-STATE FAIRNESS IN THE ALLOCATION OF GOODS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2017

Biung-Ghi Ju
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Korea. Email: bgju@snu.ac.kr. URL: http://cdj.snu.ac.kr.
Juan D. Moreno-Ternero*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, and CORE, Université catholique de Louvain.
*
Address for correspondence: Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics, Carretera de Utrera, Km. 1. 41013, Seville, Spain; Email: jdmoreno@upo.es; URL: https://sites.google.com/site/jmorenoternero/.

Abstract:

Robert Nozick allegedly introduced his liberal theory of private ownership as an objection to theories of end-state justice. Nevertheless, we show that, in a stylized framework for the allocation of goods in joint ventures, both approaches can be seen as complementary. More precisely, in such a context, self-ownership (the basis for Nozick’s entitlement theory of justice) followed by voluntary transfer (Nozick’s principle of just transfer) can lead to end-state fairness (as well as Pareto efficiency). Furthermore, under a certain solidarity condition, the only way to achieve end-state fairness, following Nozick’s procedure, is to endorse an egalitarian rule for the initial assignment of rights.

Type
Symposium Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Chun, Y. 1999. Equivalence of axioms for bankruptcy problems. International Journal of Game Theory 28: 511520.Google Scholar
Dworkin, R. 1981. What is equality? Part 2: Equality of resources. Philosophy and Public Affairs 10: 283345.Google Scholar
Feldman, A. and Kirman, A.. 1974. Fairness and envy. American Economic Review 64: 9951005.Google Scholar
Fleurbaey, M. and Maniquet, F.. 2011. A Theory of Fairness and Social Welfare. Econometric Society Monograph. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Foley, D. 1967. Resource allocation and the public sector. Yale Economic Essays 7: 4598.Google Scholar
Gibbard, A. 1976. Natural property rights. Noûs 10: 7788.Google Scholar
Goldman, S. and Sussangkarn, C.. 1980. On equity and efficiency. Economics Letters 5: 2931.Google Scholar
Grunebaum, J. 1987. Private Ownership. New York, NY: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Harsanyi, J. 1953. Cardinal utility in welfare economics and in the theory of risk-taking. Journal of Political Economy 61: 434435.Google Scholar
Harsanyi, J. 1955. Cardinal welfare, individualistic ethics, and interpersonal comparisons of utility. Journal of Political Economy 63: 309321.Google Scholar
Ju, B.-G. and Moreno-Ternero, J. D.. 2017. Fair allocation of disputed properties. International Economic Review. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Kolm, S. 1972. Justice et Equite. Paris: Editions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. English Edition, 1988. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Locke, J. 1988. Two Treatises on Government, ed. Laslett, P.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mas-Colell, A., Whinston, M. and Green, J.. 1995. Microeconomic Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Moreno-Ternero, J. and Roemer, J. 2006. Impartiality, priority and solidarity in the theory of justice. Econometrica 74: 14191427.Google Scholar
Moreno-Ternero, J. and Roemer, J.. 2012. A common ground for resource and welfare egalitarianism. Games and Economic Behavior 75: 832841.Google Scholar
Moulin, H. 1987. A core selection for pricing a single output monopoly. Rand Journal of Economics 18: 397407.Google Scholar
Moulin, H. 1990. Joint ownership of a convex technology: comparison of three solutions. Review of Economic Studies 57: 439452.Google Scholar
Moulin, H. and Roemer, J.. 1989. Public ownership of the external world and private ownership of self. Journal of Political Economy 97: 347367.Google Scholar
Nozick, R. 1973. Distributive justice. Philosophy and Public Affairs 3: 45126.Google Scholar
Nozick, R. 1974. Anarchy, State and Utopia. New York, NY: Basic Books.Google Scholar
O'Neill, B. 1982. A problem of rights arbitration from the Talmud. Mathematical Social Sciences 2: 345371.Google Scholar
Pazner, E. and Schmeidler, D.. 1974. A difficulty in the concept of fairness. Review of Economic Studies 41: 991993.Google Scholar
Rawls, J. 1971. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Roemer, J. 1986. Equality of resources implies equality of welfare. Quarterly Journal of Economics 101: 751784.Google Scholar
Roemer, J. 1988. Axiomatic bargaining theory on economic environments. Journal of Economic Theory 45: 131.Google Scholar
Roemer, J. 1989. A public ownership resolution of the tragedy of the commons. Social Philosophy and Policy 6: 7492.Google Scholar
Roemer, J. 1996. Theories of Distributive Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Roemer, J. and Silvestre, J.. 1993. The proportional solution for economies with both private and public ownership. Journal of Economic Theory 59: 426444.Google Scholar
Schmeidler, D. and Vind, K.. 1972. Fair net trades. Econometrica 40: 637642.Google Scholar
Thomson, W. 1982. An informationally efficient equity criterion. Journal of Public Economics 18: 243263.Google Scholar
Thomson, W. 1983. Equity in exchange economies. Journal of Economic Theory 29: 217244.Google Scholar
Thomson, W. 2003. Axiomatic and game-theoretic analysis of bankruptcy and taxation problems: a survey. Mathematical Social Sciences 45: 249297.Google Scholar
Thomson, W. 2011. Fair allocation rules. In The Handbook of Social Choice and Welfare, Vol. 2, ed. Arrow, K., Sen, A. and Suzumura, K., 393506. Amsterdam: North Holland.Google Scholar
Thomson, W. 2012. On the axiomatics of resource allocation: interpreting the consistency principle. Economics and Philosophy 28: 385-421.Google Scholar
Thomson, W. 2015. Axiomatic and game-theoretic analysis of bankruptcy and taxation problems: an update. Mathematical Social Sciences 74: 4159.Google Scholar
Thomson, W. 2017a. Consistent Allocation Rules. Monograph Series of the Econometric Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Thomson, W. 2017b. How to Divide When There Isn't Enough: Aristotle, the Talmud, and Maimonides to the axiomatics of resource allocation. Monograph Series of the Econometric Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Forthcoming.Google Scholar
Tinbergen, J. 1953. Redelijke Inkomensverdeling (2nd edn). Haarlem: N. V. DeGulden Pers.Google Scholar
Wertheimer, A. and Zwolinski, M.. 2015. Exploitation. In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2015 Edition), ed. Zalta, E. N.. Available at http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2015/entries/exploitation/.Google Scholar