Evening Must-Read: Chris Dillow: Why Inequality Matters

Chris Dillow: Why inequality matters: “We lefties care about inequality… because… three things that would make inequalities tolerable are–to some extent–missing.

Firstly, inequalities don’t all arise from fair processes…. Secondly, we fear that inequality has adverse effects… economic growth, social cohesion… other aspects of well-being… inequality is, as Sean McElwee says, an ‘affront to democracy’…. Thirdly, we’ve no great beef with inequality if it is combined with some form of risk-pooling…. We’d favour some redistribution to mitigate the effects of bad luck–be it the bad luck of a bad draw in the genetic lottery or of being hurt by a recession…. Libertarians should worry about income inequality as it is often the product of statism…. Getting the rich to pay more tax is nowhere near enough to reduce the inequalities we should tackle.