Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Income Redistribution

Income Redistribution: The Key to Economic Growth?, by Mark Thoma:
[Income] inequality is already high, and if it continues to grow it could reach the point where it becomes morally intolerable, and there is evidence that social ills grow as inequality widens. But there is an economic reason to care, as well. ...

I’ve never favored redistributive policies, except to correct distortions in the distribution of income resulting from market failure, political power, bequests and other impediments to fair competition and equal opportunity. ... But increasingly I am of the view that even if we could level the domestic playing field, it still won’t solve our wage stagnation and inequality problems. Redistribution of income appears to be the only answer.

3 comments:

  1. So how do you propose to Redistribute wealth?

    Are you going to steal the money from those the are earning it and give it to those that are don't earn it?

    We know from history that people don't value money they didn't earn. That's why throughout history those on the receiving end wealth transfers have always remained poor.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Are you going to steal the money from those the are earning it and give it to those that are don't earn it?

    Quite the contrary: I propose recouping the money from those who have stolen it (capitalists and rentiers), and returning it to those who have earned it (workers).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello, I was just involved in a similar debate at
    http://searchingforliberty.blogspot.com/
    The author enthusing some "grow the pie" scheme by a Harvard Business Review author. My rebuttal that "grow the pie" enthusiasts simply aren't willing to share their slice was not accepted. If you were interested.

    Cheers
    BW

    ReplyDelete

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