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Who Exploits Who?

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  • Karl Widerquist

Abstract

This whole program is voluntary ... The men don't have to ... if they don't want to. But we need you to starve them to death if they don't (Joseph Heller, Catch‐22). This article considers two concepts put forward by van Donselaar in a case against basic income: ‘the abuse of rights’, i.e. receiving income from an asset one has no interest in working with; and ‘Donselaarian exploitation’, i.e. A exploits B if A is better off and B worse off than either of them would have been in the other's absence. This article argues that these concepts do not imply a solid case against unconditional transfers. Most of van Donselaar's conclusions rely on two‐person examples with very specific assumptions about preferences. Under other reasonable assumptions, unconditional transfers do not involve the abuse of rights or exploitation and the proposed solution of work requirements can actually cause abuse and exploitation.

Suggested Citation

  • Karl Widerquist, 2006. "Who Exploits Who?," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 54(3), pages 444-464, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:polstu:v:54:y:2006:i:3:p:444-464
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9248.2006.00614.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Michael Lewis & Steven Pressman & Karl Widerquist, 2005. "The basic income guarantee and social economics," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 63(4), pages 587-593.
    2. Stuart White, 1997. "Liberal Equality, Exploitation, and the Case for an Unconditional Basic Income," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 45(2), pages 312-326, June.
    3. White, Stuart, 2000. "Review Article: Social Rights and Social Contract—Political Theory and the New Welfare Politics," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(3), pages 507-532, July.
    4. Varian, Hal R., 1985. "Dworkin on Equality of Resources," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(1), pages 110-125, April.
    5. White, Stuart, 1999. "The Egalitarian Earnings Subsidy Scheme," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 29(4), pages 601-622, September.
    6. Robert J. Van Der Veen, 1998. "Real Freedom versus Reciprocity: Competing Views on the Justice of Unconditional Basic Income," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 46(1), pages 140-163, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Andrew Lister, 2020. "Reconsidering the reciprocity objection to unconditional basic income," Politics, Philosophy & Economics, , vol. 19(3), pages 209-228, August.
    2. Richard Pereira, 2015. "Universal Basic Income and the Cost Objection: What are we Waiting For?," World Economic Review, World Economics Association, vol. 2015(5), pages 1-1, July.

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