ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates whether the replication of inequality is, other things being equal, morally objectionable in ways not applicable to inequality that remains confined to a single generation or ‘birth cohort’. The focus is both theoretical and practical. The chapter considers the philosophical foundations that might lie behind an objection to dynastic inequality, negotiating the diversity of egalitarian views supporting this position, and the complexity around the causal mechanisms at work in cases where inequality has a dynastic tendency. It then discusses the policy reforms that might target inequalities that replicate old distributive trends while leaving newly produced trends more intact, with a focus on tax policy. Current tax rules in most developed economies do not make a distinction between new and old influences on the material distribution. Accordingly, it is likely that the tax reforms implied could be quite extensive.
Halliday, Daniel and Stewart, Miranda, On ‘Dynastic’ Inequality (August 13, 2020). Forthcoming in: Stephen Gardiner (ed), Oxford Handbook of Intergenerational Ethics, Oxford University Press; University of Melbourne Legal Studies Research Paper No 903.
First posted 2020-08-20 04:05:50
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