Does Egalitarianism Have a Future?

Louis Putterman, John Roemer and Joaquim Silvestre

Journal of Economic Literature, 1998, vol. 36, issue 2, 861-902

Abstract: The fall of Communism, the reassessment of Nordic social democracy, belt-tightening in other advanced welfare states, and the worldwide privatization wave have led many to conclude that egalitarianism is a merely utopian ideal, the possibility of whose realization is laid to rest by the failure of a series of twentieth-century social experiments. We survey the evidence, both empirical and theoretical, and conclude that obituaries are premature. Key theoretical errors in the design of egalitarian experiments, and in some critiques of pro-egalitarian policies, concern the role of information asymmetries, and we argue that their proper understanding re-opens possibilities for increasing equality without unacceptable sacrifices in efficiency.

Date: 1998
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (35)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.e-jel.org/archive/june1998/Putterma.pdf (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members.

Related works:
Working Paper: Does Egalitarianism Have a Future? (2003)
Working Paper: DOES EGALITARIANISM HAVE A FUTURE?
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:jeclit:v:36:y:1998:i:2:p:861-902

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Economic Literature is currently edited by Steven Durlauf

More articles in Journal of Economic Literature from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().