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Lotteries, Justice and Probability

Author

Listed:
  • Peter Stone

    (Political Science Department, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-6044, USA, peter.stone@stanford.edu)

Abstract

Intuition suggests that a fair lottery is the appropriate way to allocate a scarce good when two or more people have equally strong claims to it. This article lays out three conditions that any conception of justice compatible with this intuition must satisfy — efficiency of outcomes, fairness of outcomes, and fairness of treatment. The third, unlike the first two, manifests itself only in the intentions of the allocative agent, not in the final allocation itself. For this reason, while justice generally requires publicity — requires, that is, that the justice of public practices be as visible as possible — for fairness of treatment publicity is indispensable. This fact has implications for defining a fair lottery. On most accounts, fair lotteries must be equiprobable. But while some theories of probability facilitate the connection between the equiprobability of fair lotteries and the contribution they can make to justice, others do not.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Stone, 2009. "Lotteries, Justice and Probability," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 21(3), pages 395-409, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jothpo:v:21:y:2009:i:3:p:395-409
    DOI: 10.1177/0951629809103971
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Wasserman, David, 1996. "Let them Eat Chances: Probability and Distributive Justice," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(1), pages 29-49, April.
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