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Fairness as a criterion for economic policy

Even if all could agree that fairness was crucial, and then on what fairness actually requires (see a discussion on that by an Irish economist here:

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, it seems beyond argument that an economic recovery plan that was designed to be effective would not necessarily also be fair. ( I have been considering this here
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in an Irish context, but it is relevant in every country). By "effective", I mean in terms of restoring full, or nearly full employment.

For myself, my instinct is to prefer a plan that works as quickly as possible, but most people I have consulted (informally) appear to be willing to wait much longer as long as it's fair.

This surprised me, and I decided to poll more formally here:

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Participate if you want; the result will be of general interest, I think.

On the other hand, if you think that the whole idea is misconceived or worse, please feel free to share your opinion here.

Reply to
Fergus O'Rourke
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I'll admit that I haven't read your links as I'm rather busy with work ATM.

Countries have been trying to tinker with laws to get the best set of laws since codified laws began. *Everyone* has failed and there always has been corruption, misuse of power and misappropriation of taxes to varying degree. Maybe it is time to try things the other way by deregulating everything and seeing whether that will bring about a fairer society.

What is "fair"? Are things fair when people are rewarded equally across the board regardless of contribution (the Socialist and benefits recipient ideal) or are things fair when people are rewarded in proportion to merit? If we can not agree on a definition of what is fair, then there is not much point in this discussion proceeding further.

N5

Reply to
November 5

You contrast fairness with effectiveness, which you define as minimizing unemployment. It is not at all clear what you mean by "fair" in this case, since unemployment is presumably unfair to the unemployed person.

I didn't find the article you cited by Jim O'Leary particularly lucid; having implied he was going to define fairness at the beginning he seemed to have abandoned the idea by the end, and decided that "transfer", by which I assume he means tax, is intrinsically bad.

Reply to
Timothy Murphy

"Like other lawyers, I am accustomed to thinking in terms of fair solutions."

Sadly, Fergus, I do not think this will chime with the general view of lawyers.

Reply to
Timothy Murphy

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