Relational equality, mutual benefit and social insurance

Sugden, Robert (2024) Relational equality, mutual benefit and social insurance. Oxford Open Economics, 3 (Supplement_1). i24–i29. ISSN 2752-5074

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Abstract

In a democratic nation state with a relatively open economy, does the state has an obligation to seek to achieve equality among its citizens? If so, where does that obligation come from? And equality of what? I argue that the luck egalitarian conception of equality of opportunity, which requires the state to compensate for the effects of contingencies for which individuals are not responsible but not for those for which they are, is incompatible with the practical functioning and moral underpinning of a market economy. I discuss two views which focus on equality in social, political and economic relationships between individuals – Anderson’s conception of relational equality and my economic conception of mutual benefit. These approaches have a similar contractual or contractarian structure: they work from the several viewpoints of potential participants in cooperative ventures rather than the synoptic viewpoint of a moral spectator. They provide complementary justifications for social insurance.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Funding information: This commentary was written for the IFS Deaton Review of Inequalities, funded by the Nuffield Foundation (grant reference WEL/43603). The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily the Foundation.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	sdg 10 - reduced inequalities,2*,this is my contribution to the institute for fiscal studies (ifs) deaton review of inequality. the whole review is being published in oxord open economics. i expect the review to be influential in the public policy community: the ifs is a very highly regarded institution, and angus deaton, who led the review, is a nobel prize winner. ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/reduced_inequalities
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Economics
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Behavioural and Experimental Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Competition Policy Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Behavioural Economics Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Economic Theory
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	11 Sep 2023 09:30
Last Modified:	17 Dec 2024 01:38
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/93011
DOI:	10.1093/ooec/odad016

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