So, when is equal unfair, and when is it fair?
Picture two neighbours. One takes the early shift, often works overtime and saves what she can. The other is just as able but prefers not to work. If income outcomes are to be equal, government must tax the harder workers and give their money to those who work less hard. That might look wrong, but it is exactly what fairness requires, if fairness means equal outcomes.
The Little Red Hen children's story makes the point better than any lecture. The hen finds some grains of wheat and asks the other farmyard animals to help her plant them, harvest the crop and bake the bread. Each one refuses. When the bread comes out of the oven, warm and fragrant, they all want a slice. She refuses them. Children are on her side. They understand that it is just to reward effort and initiative.
In 1961, the American writer Kurt Vonnegut published a short story called Harrison Bergeron that explored the opposing idea of enforced equal outcomes. Talent must not flourish. In his dystopian world the strong wear weights, the beautiful wear masks and the quick-witted wear earpieces that scramble their thoughts.
Since equal outcomes are unattainable and unjust, many people retreat to a second position. Never mind equal outcomes, they say, just give everyone an equal opportunity. President Lyndon Johnson expressed it memorably in 1965 when he launched his Great Society programmes. You do not free a man who has been hobbled by chains, he argued, walk him to the starting line of a race and declare that he is now free to compete with everyone else.
The image is seductive, and the historical injustices were real. But the static metaphor does not apply. Life is not one race with one starting point, one goal and one winner. The nurse and the violinist are not at the same starting line. A violinist’s success does not hold the nurse back. Each should be free to develop their own careers and talents as they see fit.
A yet deeper objection is that differences in opportunity are inherent. Babies have different genes and inherent aptitudes. Differences in family life further confound hopes of equal opportunities come adolescence. Full equality of opportunity is even more unattainable than equality of outcome.
So, if the ideals of equal outcomes and equal opportunity are unachievable and undesirable, what degree of inequality is fair? There is an answer.
Fairness in the sense of equal treatment has a core in fair play and fair process. Every child knows it. So do sports fans. The rules of the game are settled before it begins. They bind both sides equally, and the referee should enforce them impartially. Unequal outcomes through fair play are the goal. To cheat is unfair.
Fair play builds mutual respect. It is the fairness we already ask of one another. Treat others as you would have them treat you. Respect their dignity. Keep your hands to yourself and respect other people's property.
Fair play and fair process are standards a government can aspire to follow. For example, a core concept in the rule of law is that the law is clear and accessible. Changes need to be well-signalled and, with few exceptions, not retrospective. A goal fairly scored should not be later disallowed by, say, a mid-match change in the offside rule.
The State should show the same respect for individual liberty and property. New Zealand’s Public Works Act does this. It requires the Crown to compensate the owner when it takes private land for a public purpose.
The state can and should provide a welfare safety net independently of these goals. It should also ensure that compulsory school education excels at teaching literacy, numeracy and other vital skills.
Recognising that attempts to force equal outcomes and equal opportunity can be unfair to merit, effort, justice and human dignity, US economist and author Deirdre McCloskey has proposed “equality of permission”. People should be allowed to have a go at a permitted activity, regardless of their gender, class, ethnicity and the like.
In short, a country that keeps these “Little Red Hen” distinctions in mind can hope to be freer and more civil and kinder than one that muddles them. A legal system that conforms to the rule of law, provides fair process and which treats all as equally subject to the law, is necessary for justice. Equal treatment can be fair.
Dr Bryce Wilkinson is a Senior Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative, Director of Capital Economics, and former Director of the New Zealand Treasury. His articles can be seen HERE. - where this article was sourced
The Little Red Hen children's story makes the point better than any lecture. The hen finds some grains of wheat and asks the other farmyard animals to help her plant them, harvest the crop and bake the bread. Each one refuses. When the bread comes out of the oven, warm and fragrant, they all want a slice. She refuses them. Children are on her side. They understand that it is just to reward effort and initiative.
In 1961, the American writer Kurt Vonnegut published a short story called Harrison Bergeron that explored the opposing idea of enforced equal outcomes. Talent must not flourish. In his dystopian world the strong wear weights, the beautiful wear masks and the quick-witted wear earpieces that scramble their thoughts.
Since equal outcomes are unattainable and unjust, many people retreat to a second position. Never mind equal outcomes, they say, just give everyone an equal opportunity. President Lyndon Johnson expressed it memorably in 1965 when he launched his Great Society programmes. You do not free a man who has been hobbled by chains, he argued, walk him to the starting line of a race and declare that he is now free to compete with everyone else.
The image is seductive, and the historical injustices were real. But the static metaphor does not apply. Life is not one race with one starting point, one goal and one winner. The nurse and the violinist are not at the same starting line. A violinist’s success does not hold the nurse back. Each should be free to develop their own careers and talents as they see fit.
A yet deeper objection is that differences in opportunity are inherent. Babies have different genes and inherent aptitudes. Differences in family life further confound hopes of equal opportunities come adolescence. Full equality of opportunity is even more unattainable than equality of outcome.
So, if the ideals of equal outcomes and equal opportunity are unachievable and undesirable, what degree of inequality is fair? There is an answer.
Fairness in the sense of equal treatment has a core in fair play and fair process. Every child knows it. So do sports fans. The rules of the game are settled before it begins. They bind both sides equally, and the referee should enforce them impartially. Unequal outcomes through fair play are the goal. To cheat is unfair.
Fair play builds mutual respect. It is the fairness we already ask of one another. Treat others as you would have them treat you. Respect their dignity. Keep your hands to yourself and respect other people's property.
Fair play and fair process are standards a government can aspire to follow. For example, a core concept in the rule of law is that the law is clear and accessible. Changes need to be well-signalled and, with few exceptions, not retrospective. A goal fairly scored should not be later disallowed by, say, a mid-match change in the offside rule.
The State should show the same respect for individual liberty and property. New Zealand’s Public Works Act does this. It requires the Crown to compensate the owner when it takes private land for a public purpose.
The state can and should provide a welfare safety net independently of these goals. It should also ensure that compulsory school education excels at teaching literacy, numeracy and other vital skills.
Recognising that attempts to force equal outcomes and equal opportunity can be unfair to merit, effort, justice and human dignity, US economist and author Deirdre McCloskey has proposed “equality of permission”. People should be allowed to have a go at a permitted activity, regardless of their gender, class, ethnicity and the like.
In short, a country that keeps these “Little Red Hen” distinctions in mind can hope to be freer and more civil and kinder than one that muddles them. A legal system that conforms to the rule of law, provides fair process and which treats all as equally subject to the law, is necessary for justice. Equal treatment can be fair.
Dr Bryce Wilkinson is a Senior Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative, Director of Capital Economics, and former Director of the New Zealand Treasury. His articles can be seen HERE. - where this article was sourced
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