Calibration dilemmas in the ethics of distribution

This paper presents a new kind of problem in the ethics of distribution. The problem takes the form of several ‘calibration dilemmas’, in which intuitively reasonable aversion to small-stakes inequalities requires leading theories of distribution to recommend intuitively unreasonable aversion to lar...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEconomics and philosophy Vol. 39; no. 1; pp. 67 - 98
Main Authors Nebel, Jacob M., Stefánsson, H. Orri
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.03.2023
Subjects
Calibration
Economics
Egalitarianism
Equality
Ethics
Expected utility
Inequality
prioritarianism
Utilitarianism
egalitarianism
Equality
prioritarianism
calibration
utilitarianism
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Summary:This paper presents a new kind of problem in the ethics of distribution. The problem takes the form of several ‘calibration dilemmas’, in which intuitively reasonable aversion to small-stakes inequalities requires leading theories of distribution to recommend intuitively unreasonable aversion to large-stakes inequalities. We first lay out a series of such dilemmas for prioritarian theories. We then consider a widely endorsed family of egalitarian views and show that they are subject to even more forceful calibration dilemmas than prioritarian theories. Finally, we show that our results challenge common utilitarian accounts of the badness of inequalities in resources.
ISSN:0266-2671
1474-0028
1474-0028
DOI:10.1017/S0266267121000298