Jouvenel Bertrand de. The Ethics of Redistribution

Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1990. — 118 p. — ISBN10: 0865970858; ISBN13: 978-0865970854.After many years of being out of print, this classic treatise from the brilliant political philosopher De Jouvenel (1952) provides an answer to a critical question: what is morally wrong with the idea of political management of incomes? Nearly every state in the world attempts to curb excess riches and boost the well being of the poor, and does so through a variety of programs that involve taxation and regulatory regimentation. Yes, it generates disincentives to work but the author here deals with a more fundamental moral issue: to what extent and in what ways does redistribution compromise individual freedom and build the power of the state? It is in the transfer of power from people to government that the real problem with income management rests. De Jouvenel makes a devastating case against the most accepted of modern forms of economic intervention.Introduction by John GrayThe Socialist IdealThe process of redistribution
Our subject: the ethical aspect
Land redistribution in perspective
Land redistribution not equivalent to redistribution of income
Equalization of land assets: how far similar to and how far different from equalization of capital
Socialism as the City of Brotherly Love
How to do away with antagonism: socialist goal and socialist means
The inner contradiction of socialism
Redistribution and the scandal of poverty
The notions of relief and of lifting working-class standards merged
Indecent low-living and indecent high-living
The floor and the ceiling: intellectual harmony and financial harmony
How Low a ceiling?
A discussion of satisfactions
The theory of diminishing utility
Further points and qualifications
Discrimination against minorities
The effect of redistribution upon society
The more redistribution, the more power to the State
Values and satisfactions
Are subjective satisfactions an exclusive standard?
Redistributionism the end result of utilitarian individualismState ExpenditureTwo views of income
Taxation not purely disincentive
Another view of income
Gnawing the income-bone
Conflict of subjective egalitarianism and objective socialism
Functional expenditures well received if charged to corporate bodies
The treatment of corporate bodies compared to that of families
Consumption expenditures as a form of national investment
Purposeful expenditures the State's privilege
A high degree of taxation in all ranges
The camouflage of personal expenditures
The destruction of free services
Commercialization of values
A redistribution of power from individuals to the State
Redistribution an incentive to tolerating the growth of public expenditure
Redistribution incidental to centralization?
Envy a fundamental motive?Appendix: The Potentialities of Pure Redistribution