Question

Which of the three political philosophies discussed in the textbook, if any, view the total income of society as a shared resource that a social planner can freely redistribute to achieve some social goal?

Answer 1

In the political philosophy of redistributing income, there are three ways that government redistribute income of citizens utilitarianism, liberalism and libertarianism. Out of these three the first two, utilitarianism and liberalism are of the view that total income of society as a shared resource that a social planner can freely redistribute to achieve some social goal. However in the case of libertarianism, the view is not to redistribute income. Let us now understand these tow in detail:

Utilitarianism is the political philosophy according to which the government should choose policies to maximize the total utility of everyone in society. The proper goal of the government according to this philosophy is to maximize the sum of utility achieved by everyone in society.

The utilitarian case for redistributing income is based on the assumption of diminishing marginal utility. It seems reasonable that an extra dollar of income provides a poor person with more additional utility than an extra dollar would provide to a rich person.

Liberalism is the view that income should be redistributed in such a way so that the poorest in society always receive an adequate level of income as a form of social insurance.

The philosophy was given by Rawls which aim at maximizing the minimum utility. Rawls's rule is called the maximin criterion. Because the maximin criterion emphasizes the least fortunate person in society, it justifies public policies aimed at equalizing the distribution of income. By transferring income from the rich to the poor, society raises the well-being of the least fortunate. The maximin criterion would not, however, lead to a completely egalitarian society. Ii the government promised to equalize incomes completely, people would have no incentive to work hard, society's total income would fall substantially, and the least fortunate person would be worse off. Thus, the maximin criterion still allows disparities in income because such disparities can improve incentives and thereby raise society's ability to help the poor. Nonetheless, because Rawls's philosophy puts weight on only the least fortunate members of society, it calls for more income redistribution than does utilitarianism.

Although Libertarianism philosophy doesn't enforce redistribution of income but just for clarity purpose it is the view that government should enforce individual rights to ensure that everyone has the same opportunity to use his or her talents to achieve success.