Disrupting the production boundary: from deservingness to right

The link between productive economic activity and deservingness of remuneration is taken for granted in modern economic thought. While heterodox traditions within international political economy (IPE) emphasise the global division of labour and therefore a de-individualised understanding of value production, they remain committed to a production boundary, or a sharp distinction between productive and unproductive economic activities. Accompanying this understanding is a productivist notion of deservingness: the belief that productive activities are directly deserving of reward or remuneration, while unproductive activities are considered undeserving. But what are the consequences of conflating value production with entitlement to wealth? Engaging with Mariana Mazzucato's influential work on value, I address how the notion of the production boundary fails to capture the flow of labour and capital, as well the temporal elements of past, present, and future, which all contribute to how value is determined in a dynamic capitalist world economy. Ultimately, what is at stake is to challenge the notion that a production boundary is necessary for a conception of economic justice. The paper is therefore interested in possibilities for moving beyond deservingness and towards a democratisation of wealth based on need and the notion of economic rights.