EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Rawls’s maximin and optimal taxation theory

Benoît Walraevens

The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2023, vol. 30, issue 5, 860-882

Abstract: The paper analyses the import and appropriation of Rawls’s theory of justice into the emerging field of optimal taxation theory in the 1970s. It focuses first on the pioneer contributions of Atkinson and Phelps to integrate Rawls’s maximin into optimal taxation models, and then on their numerous followers during this decade. It shows that the maximin criterion was quickly accepted and appropriated in optimal taxation theory using “Rawlsian” Social Welfare Functions, which are founded on a welfarist interpretation of the maximin, unfaithful to Rawls. I try to explain why public economists made this choice, insisting on issues of simplicity, tractability, and comparisons with other ethical criteria.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/09672567.2023.2248316 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Rawls's maximin and optimal taxation theory (2023)
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:taf:eujhet:v:30:y:2023:i:5:p:860-882

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/REJH20

DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2023.2248316

Access Statistics for this article

The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought is currently edited by José Luís Cardoso

More articles in The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().

 
Page updated 2025-03-24
Handle: RePEc:taf:eujhet:v:30:y:2023:i:5:p:860-882