Equality of Opportunity


•Equality of opportunity says that a distribution is just if, and only if, it assigns positions in society according to morally relevant criteria such as ability or merit and not according to morally arbitrary criteria, such as gender or race.
•People should get the position they deserve based on ability and past performance.
•Often used in business decisions regarding employees, suppliers, and customer.

Problems with Equality of Opportunity

•Ability, effort, merit, and desert are often determined by factors that are arbitrary from a moral point of view.

- Genetic lottery
- Family background
- Lucky decisions
•How should benefits be distributed to positions?
•Usual answer is according to marginal contribution


Desert = Marginal Contribution: The Pin Factory



Measuring Marginal Contribution: The Pin Factory

•Together, Jack and Jill will produce 90 pins per day.
•Without Jill, Jack can only produce 9 pins per day.
•Jill’s marginal contribution is 81 pins (90-9 = 81).
•Therefore, Jill deserves 81 pins.
•Without Jack, Jill can only produce 9 pins per day.
•Jack’s marginal contribution is 81 pins.
•81+81 = 162, however there are only 90 pins
•RAA


Marginal Contribution in a Firm



Equality of Welfare

•Equality of welfare holds that a distribution of property rights in resources is just if, and only if, it results in everyone having the same level of welfare.
•Problem: measuring and comparing welfare
•Problem: expensive tastes. Appears to say that we should justify the preferences of those who do not enjoy inexpensive resources.
•Problem: leveling down. Appears to say that we should reduce everyone to the same level of preference satisfaction






Last modified: Tuesday, August 14, 2018, 10:16 AM