1st Edition

Equity and Choice An Essay in Economics and Applied Philosophy

By Julian Le Grand Copyright 1991
    208 Pages
    by Routledge

    202 Pages
    by Routledge

    Offering a new answer to an age-old problem: the meaning of a just or equitable distribution of resources, Julian Le Grand examines the principal interpretations of equity used by economists and political philosophers. He argues that none captures the essence of the term as well as an alternative conception relating equity to the existence or otherwise of individual choice.

    Le Grand shows that this conception is not only philosophically well-grounded but is also directly relevant to key areas of distributional policy. His theoretical argument is complemented by detailed discussion of the application of the central idea to specific areas of policy, including the distribution of health and health care, central government grants to local governments and the measurement of income for tax purposes.

    Equity and Choice is written by an economist, but is intended for political philosophers and social policy analysts as well as economists. Hence the key chapters are written in a non-technical fashion, with specialized material relegated to appendices. This book is a unique combination of philosophical, economic and policy analysis and represents a major contribution in all three areas.

    Acknowledgements, 1. Introduction, 2. Some preliminaries, 3. Equity versus efficiency: the elusive trade-off, 4. Methods of approach, 5. Economic conceptions of equity, 6. Equity and choice, 7. Equity, health and health care, 8. Equity and grants to local governments, 9. Equity, the measurement of choice sets and income taxation, 10. Afterword, References

    Biography

    Julian Le Grand