THE KNOWLEDGE INHERITANCE THEORY OF DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE

Elaine Sternberg

Economic Affairs, 2010, vol. 30, issue 1, 33-37

Abstract: This article criticises the ‘knowledge inheritance theory of distributive justice’ presented by Gar Alperovitz and Lew Daly in their Unjust Deserts: How the Rich Are Taking Our Common Inheritance and Why We Should Take It Back; Wealth and Inequality in the Knowledge Economy (New York: The New Press, 2008). The authors claim that since innovation depends far more on accumulated knowledge than on any individual's contribution, most resulting wealth is deserved equally by all members of society. Their redistributive conclusion is not justified. Illegitimately applying the concept of justice to contexts where it is at best metaphorical, the ‘knowledge inheritance theory’ massively undervalues the role of individual intellectual activity, and relies on confusions concerning the nature of society, rights, causality, and gifts.

Date: 2010
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https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0270.2009.01970.x

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