Open AccessLiberal Egalitarianism and the Harm Principle
Author(s) -
Lombardi Michele,
Miyagishima Kaname,
Veneziani Roberto
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the economic journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.683
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1468-0297
pISSN - 0013-0133
DOI - 10.1111/ecoj.12298
Subject(s) - egalitarianism , harm , harm principle , autonomy , distributive justice , liberalism , classical liberalism , individualism , law and economics , economic justice , context (archaeology) , distributive property , adjudication , welfare state , sociology , political science , positive economics , law , economics , politics , mathematics , paleontology , pure mathematics , biology
We analyse the implications of classical liberal and libertarian approaches for distributive justice in the context of social welfare orderings. We study an axiom capturing a liberal non‐interfering view of society, the Weak Harm Principle, whose roots can be traced back to John Stuart Mill. We show that liberal views of individual autonomy and freedom can provide consistent foundations for welfare judgements. In particular, a liberal non‐interfering approach can help to adjudicate some fundamental distributive issues relative to intergenerational justice. However, a strong relation is established between liberal views of individual autonomy and non‐interference, and egalitarian principles in the Rawlsian tradition.