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Distributive Justice and Social Policy

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  • Olli Kangas

Abstract

The article adapts the Rawlsian idea of decision-making behind the veil of ignorance in the realm of income transfer systems. As rational decision-makers we would plan a society where the incidence of poverty is low, differences in the level of living between life cycles are small, income differences between the rich and poor are modest, income mobility from poverty to non-poverty is high, and where the living standard of the poor is decent. The results show that income mobility is not greater in those countries which have wide income differences, nor is the situation of the poor any better in countries with huge income disparities than that of the poor in other countries. Cross-national comparisons indicate that high poverty rates are not associated with more rapid income mobility and higher standards for the poor.

Suggested Citation

  • Olli Kangas, 2000. "Distributive Justice and Social Policy," LIS Working papers 221, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    • Handle: RePEc:lis:liswps:221
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Joakim Palme & Olli Kangas, 1998. "Does Social Policy Matter? Poverty Cycles in OECD Countries," LIS Working papers 187, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    2. Smeeding, Timothy M, et al, 1993. "Poverty, Inequality, and Family Living Standards Impacts across Seven Nations: The Effect of Noncash Subsidies for Health, Education and Housing," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 39(3), pages 229-256, September.
    3. Bruce Bradbury & Markus Jantti, 1999. "Child Poverty across Industrialized Nations," Papers iopeps99/70, Innocenti Occasional Papers, Economic Policy Series.
    4. Anders Bjorklund & Richard B. Freeman, 1997. "Generating Equality and Eliminating Poverty, the Swedish Way," NBER Chapters, in: The Welfare State in Transition: Reforming the Swedish Model, pages 33-78, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Richard B. Freeman & Robert Topel & Birgitta Swedenborg, 1997. "Introduction to "The Welfare State in Transition: Reforming the Swedish Model"," NBER Chapters, in: The Welfare State in Transition: Reforming the Swedish Model, pages 1-32, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Lee Rainwater & Timothy Smeeding, 1995. "Doing Poorly: The Real Income of American Children in a Comparative Perspective," LIS Working papers 127, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    7. Richard B. Freeman & Robert Topel & Birgitta Swedenborg, 1997. "The Welfare State in Transition: Reforming the Swedish Model," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number free97-1, March.
    8. Headey, Bruce & Goodin, Robert E. & Muffels, Ruud & Dirven, Henk-Jan, 1997. "Welfare Over Time: Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism in Panel Perspective," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(3), pages 329-359, September.
    9. Freeman, Richard B. & Topel, Robert H. & Swedenborg, Birgitta (ed.), 1997. "The Welfare State in Transition," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226261782, December.
    10. Jantti, Markus & Kangas, Olli & Ritakallio, Veli-Matti, 1996. "From Marginalism to Institutionalism: Distributional Consequences of the Transformation of the Finnish Pension Regime," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 42(4), pages 473-491, December.
    11. Veli-Matti Ritakallio, 1994. "Finnish Poverty: A Cross-National Comparison," LIS Working papers 119, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
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    1. Bergmann, Holger & Noack, Eva Maria & Thomson, Kenneth J., 2011. "The Distribution of CAP Payments - Redistributional Injustice or Spatially Adapted policy?," 85th Annual Conference, April 18-20, 2011, Warwick University, Coventry, UK 108958, Agricultural Economics Society.

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