Market, law and distribution: tracing a stream of liberal economic thinking

Abstract

ABSTRACT The proponents of liberal economic orders generally praise the role of the market in allocating resources and benefits, and they tend to subscribe to a norm of social justice which has at its core market-perfectionisation – the ideal market is thought to be leading to that justice. These ideas are predominant in the contemporary debates on the (international) economic order, distribution and inequality. This article is an attempt to uproot these orthodox liberal ideas, and in doing so it puts in question conceptions of law, distribution and social justice in the liberal orthodoxy.