Redistributive Schemes That Skirt Poverty: Reconsidering Social Justice in Light of Van Parijs and Zucker

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper examines the unconditional basic income (UBI) and national share of income schemes respectively of Philippe Van Parijs and Ross Zucker. It discusses the implications of each on notions of and reform efforts for social or distributive justice. The core critique is that neither Van Parijs nor Zucker come to terms adequately with absolute poverty when addressing issues of income inequality. Reducing income inequality, a worthy goal for a variety of reasons (e.g., equalizing access to political power, creating greater social harmony), may reduce relative poverty while nonetheless ignoring absolute poverty. The author argues that poverty reduction should remain the central focus of theoretical and practical initiatives justifying income redistribution. That is, attending to basic need is necessarily elemental, can be made consistent with the idea of a UBI, and enhances the force of the concept of social or distributive justice. The paper concludes with a brief sketch of a progressively unconditional guaranteed income scheme.