New Economist blog post: “How Much Equality Would You Like?”

Posted on Wednesday, 15 August 2012 by Steven Mazie

Behavioral economist Dan Ariely recently argued in the Atlantic that “Americans want to live in a much more equal country (they just don’t realize it).”

A new post in the Economist refutes Ariely’s conclusion by challenging his interpretation of survey data and his understanding of Rawls’s theory of justice: “How Much Equality Would You Like?”

Another post on Big Think expands on the critique: “Do Americans Really Envy Sweden’s Egalitarianism?”

– Steven Mazie

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One Response to New Economist blog post: “How Much Equality Would You Like?”

  1. Stephen Downes says:
    Friday, 31 August 2012 at 6:44 pm

    The Economist can be said to have rebutted Airely’s argument, but surely not to have refuted it.

    Airely is not compelled to follow Rawls exactly. The reference to Rawls is a way of adding colour or clarity, not to fix the argument within a specific framework.

    This is clear because Airely’s conclusion follows his data without any reference to Rawls. Asked what sort of income distribution they would refer, Americans responded with the more equitable distribution. Hence, all else being equal, Americans favour more equitable income distribution.

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