Just Distribution

How goods are justly to be distributed among members of a society is among the primary concerns of any government. Redistribution via taxation is generally seen as necessary; but to what extent wealth should be redistributed is controversial.

A further problem is that once wealth has been redistributed justly it will not remain in that just distribution. People will buy and sell goods, earn and squander wealth. Does this mean that in order to maintain a just distribution of wealth we must continuously redistribute it?

One theory is that any distribution of goods that derives from an initial just distribution via just transfers must itself be just. A particular distribution may be unequal, but if wealth was once distributed fairly, and if all transactions were freely entered into, then that inequality will be warranted; there will be no need to correct it.