The debate on distributive justice revisited: The political philosophy and the economic perspectives on economic (in)equality

Abstract

This paper reviews the broad literature on the concept of socio-economic inequality. It presents the debate between political philosophers and economists from an economic history perspective. In political philosophy, the concept of distributive justice is a normative principle which is closely related (although not identical) to economic inequality or income distribution in economics (and political economy). Originating in the 17th century, the study traces the evolution of the debate between egalitarianists and utilitarians to the modern times. It then continues to propose the alternative theories of capabilities and a reconciliatory theory of inequality of opportunity, reviewing a total of eight theories. Moreover, it continues to review the side of the debate from the economic perspective, exploring 12 theories ranging from Malthusian cycles to global inequality, the institutional perspective, economic insecurity, income polarization, and others. The debate concludes that, while economic theories are almost exclusively utilitarian and positive (as opposed to normative economics), political philosophy theories mostly contain normative aspects and are concerned with what is fair, which is not suitable for cross-national and time-variant research.