Question

Objective: In this assignment, you will apply your knowledge and understanding of poverty and income inequality to real world issues. I

nstruction: Watch and read the following materials before you write your response: The Costs of Inequality - Joseph Stiglitz (Links to an external site.) Three main philosophies of redistribution of income: Utilitarianism: the government should chose policies that maximize the total utility of everyone in society.

For example, giving $100 to a homeless person would have a bigger impact on his total utility or 'happiness' than giving it to millionaire money who probably see it as are change and therefore has little impact on his well-being. Liberalism: is a view that income should be redistrbuted in such as way so that the poorest in society always receive an adequate level of income as a form of social insurance. In other words, government policies should aim to raise the welfare of the worst person in society. Libertarianism: is the view that government should enforce individual rights to ensure everyone ha the same opportunity to use his or her talent to achieve success, but not redistribute income. Source: Mankiw, Principles of Microeconomics, 8th edition. Respond to the following prompts in a post with a minimum of 250 words, then comment on at least TWO other posts. Feel free to bring in additional references to these posts. Imagine you are a policymaker, pick one of the three political philosophies (mentioned above) that you agree with? Give your reasons. What are the arguments against the philosophy you have chosen? Give examples of antipoverty government policies which align with your chosen philosophy. How important is it to study poverty and income inequality in economics? Explain you answer.

Answer 1

Utilitarianism it's a political philosophy which prescribed that government should I choose those policies that would maximize the total utility of everyone in the society or country. it is a prominent school of thought where it is based on the utility are the level of satisfaction or happiness that a person would receive from is circumstances or the consumption of goods and services/ or even from wealth and income distribution. in this regard the proper goal of the government in the redistribution of income would be to maximize the sum of utility that can be achieved bye everyone in the society. this philosophy assume the diminishing marginal utility where the extra dollar of income provided to the poor person would give him additional utility than if it was provided to a rich person.

similarly according to the liberalism it is a political philosophy which describes that government should choose those policies that is just and in this criterion the claim is that Government should focus on maximizing the well being of the worst off person in the society.

in the case of Libertarianism, this is a political philosophy according to which government should be punishing crimes and force voluntary agreements and there should not be redistributing income society. according to this philosophy the government should not take from rich people to give it to others as against the other two philosophies and the role of the government is just to punish crimes and also enforce voluntary agreements.