Distributive Justice

About this eBook

Author

Ryan, John A. (John Augustine), 1869-1945

Title

Distributive Justice: The Right and Wrong of Our Present Distribution of Wealth

Credits

E-text prepared by D Alexander, JoAnn Greenwood, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team ( www.pgdp.net) using page images generously made available by Internet Archive ( archive.org)

Language

English

LoC Class

HB: Social sciences: Economic theory, Demography

Subject

Income distribution -- Moral and ethical aspects

Category

Text

eBook-No.

42759

Project Gutenberg

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42759

Release Date

May 21, 2013

Copyright

Public domain in the USA.

Contents

1. 1.DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE
2. 2.PREFACE
3. 3.INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER — THE ELEMENTS AND SCOPE OF THE PROBLEM
4. 4.CHAPTER I THE LANDOWNER'S SHARE OF THE NATIONAL PRODUCT — Economic Rent Always Goes to the Landowner — Economic Rent and Commercial Rent — The Cause of Economic Rent
5. 5.CHAPTER II LANDOWNERSHIP IN HISTORY — No Private Ownership in Pre-Agricultural Conditions — How the Change Probably Took Place — Limited Character of Primitive Common Ownership — Private Ownership General in Historical Times — Conclusions from History
6. 6.CHAPTER III THE ARGUMENTS AGAINST PRIVATE LANDOWNERSHIP — Arguments by Socialists — Henry George's Attack on the Title of First Occupancy — His Defence of the Title of Labour — The Right of All Men to the Bounty of the Earth — The Alleged Right of the Community to Land Values
7. 7.CHAPTER IV PRIVATE OWNERSHIP THE BEST SYSTEM OF LAND TENURE — The Socialist Proposals Impracticable — Inferiority of the Single Tax System
8. 8.CHAPTER V PRIVATE LANDOWNERSHIP A NATURAL RIGHT — Three Principal Kinds of Natural Rights — Private Landownership Indirectly Necessary for Individual Welfare — Excessive Interpretations of the Right of Private Landownership — The Doctrine of the Fathers and Theologians — The Teaching of Pope Leo XIII
9. 9.CHAPTER VI LIMITATIONS ON THE LANDOWNER'S RIGHT TO RENT — The Tenant's Right to a Decent Livelihood — The Labourer's Claim Upon the Rent
10. 10.CHAPTER VII DEFECTS OF THE EXISTING LAND SYSTEM — Landownership and Monopoly — Excessive Gains from Private Landownership — Exclusion from the Land
11. 11.CHAPTER VIII METHODS OF REFORMING OUR LAND SYSTEM — The Leasing System — Public Agricultural Lands — Public Ownership of Urban Land — Appropriating Future Increases of Land Value — Some Objections to the Increment Tax — The Morality of the Proposal — The German and British Increment Taxes — Transferring Other Taxes to Land — The Morality of the Plan — Amount of Taxes Practically Transferable — The Social Benefits of the Plan — A Supertax on Large Holdings
12. 12.CHAPTER IX THE NATURE AND THE RATE OF INTEREST — Meaning of Capital and Capitalist — Meaning of Interest — The Rate of Interest
13. 13.CHAPTER X THE ALLEGED RIGHT OF LABOUR TO THE ENTIRE PRODUCT OF INDUSTRY — The Labour Theory of Value — The Right of Productivity
14. 14.CHAPTER XI THE SOCIALIST SCHEME OF INDUSTRY — Socialist Inconsistency — Expropriating the Capitalists — Inefficient Industrial Leadership — Inefficient Labour — Attempted Replies to Objections — Restricting Individual Liberty
15. 15.CHAPTER XII ALLEGED INTRINSIC JUSTIFICATIONS OF INTEREST — Attitude of the Church Toward Interest on Loans — Interest on Productive Capital — The Claims of Productivity — The Claims of Service — The Claims of Abstinence
16. 16.CHAPTER XIII SOCIAL AND PRESUMPTIVE JUSTIFICATIONS OF INTEREST — Limitations of the Sacrifice Principle — The Value of Capital in a No-Interest Régime — Whether the Present Rate of Interest Is Necessary — Whether at Least Two Per Cent. Is Necessary — Whether Any Interest Is Necessary — The State Is Justified in Permitting Interest — Civil Authorisation not Sufficient for Individual Justification — How the Interest-Taker Is Justified
17. 17.CHAPTER XIV CO-OPERATION AS A PARTIAL SOLVENT OF CAPITALISM — Reducing the Rate of Interest — Need for a Wider Distribution of Capital — The Essence of Co-operative Enterprise — Co-operative Credit Societies — Co-operative Agricultural Societies — Co-operative Mercantile Societies — Co-operation in Production — Advantages and Prospects of Co-operation
18. 18.CHAPTER XV THE NATURE OF PROFITS — The Functions and Rewards of the Business Man — The Amount of Profits — Profits in the Joint-Stock Company
19. 19.CHAPTER XVI THE PRINCIPAL CANONS OF DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE — The Canon of Equality — The Canon of Needs — The Canon of Efforts and Sacrifice — The Canon of Productivity — The Canon of Scarcity — The Canon of Human Welfare
20. 20.CHAPTER XVII JUST PROFITS IN CONDITIONS OF COMPETITION — The Question of Indefinitely Large Profits — The Question of Minimum Profits — The Question of Superfluous Business Men
21. 21.CHAPTER XVIII THE MORAL ASPECT OF MONOPOLY — Surplus and Excessive Profits — The Question of Monopolistic Efficiency — Discriminative Underselling — Exclusive-Sales Contracts — Discriminative Transportation Arrangements — Natural Monopolies — Methods of Preventing Monopolistic Injustice — Legalised Price Agreements
22. 22.CHAPTER XIX THE MORAL ASPECT OF STOCK WATERING — Injurious Effects of Stockwatering — The Moral Wrong — The "Innocent" Investor — Magnitude of Overcapitalisation
23. 23.CHAPTER XX THE LEGAL LIMITATION OF FORTUNES — The Method of Direct Limitation — Limitation Through Progressive Taxation — The Proper Rate of Income and Inheritance Taxes — Effectiveness of Such Taxation
24. 24.CHAPTER XXI THE DUTY OF DISTRIBUTING SUPERFLUOUS WEALTH — The Question of Distributing Some — The Question of Distributing All — Some Objections — A False Conception of Welfare and Superfluous Goods — The True Conception of Welfare
25. 25.CHAPTER XXII SOME UNACCEPTABLE THEORIES OF WAGE-JUSTICE — I. The Prevailing-Rate Theory — Not in Harmony with Justice — II. Exchange-Equivalence Theories — The Rule of Equal Gains — The Rule of Free Contract — The Rule of Market Value — The Mediæval Theory — A Modern Variation of the Mediæval Theory — III. Productivity Theories — Labour's Right to the Whole Product — Clark's Theory of Specific Productivity — Carver's Modified Version of Productivity
26. 26.CHAPTER XXIII THE MINIMUM OF JUSTICE: A LIVING WAGE — The Principle of Needs — Three Fundamental Principles — The Right to a Decent Livelihood — The Claim to a Decent Livelihood from a Present Occupation — The Labourer's Right to a Living Wage — When the Employer Is Unable to Pay a Living Wage — An Objection and Some Difficulties — The Family Living Wage — Other Arguments in Favour of a Living Wage — The Money Measure of a Living Wage
27. 27.CHAPTER XXIV THE PROBLEM OF COMPLETE WAGE JUSTICE — Comparative Claims of Different Labour Groups — Wages Versus Profits — Wages Versus Interest — Wages Versus Prices — Concluding Remarks
28. 28.CHAPTER XXV METHODS OF INCREASING WAGES — The Minimum Wage in Operation — The Question of Constitutionality — The Ethical and Political Aspects — The Economic Aspect — Opinions of Economists — Other Legislative Proposals — Labour Unions — Organisation Versus Legislation — Participation in Capital Ownership
29. 29.CHAPTER XXVI SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION — The Landowner and Rent — The Capitalist and Interest — The Business Man and Profits — The Labourer and Wages — Concluding Observations
30. 30.INDEX — FOOTNOTES:

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