Thresholds in Distributive Justice

Distributive Justice

Distributive justice concerns the fair, just or equitable distribution of benefits and burdens. These benefits and burdens span all dimensions of social life and assume all forms, including income, economic wealth, political power, taxation, work obligations, education, shelter, health care, military service, community involvement and religious activities. Thus, justice arguments are often invo...

Distributive Justice in Pharmaceutical Torts: Justice Where Justice Is Due?

Ongoing tort reform efforts attest to the significant burden that medical liability imposes on the health care system. General attempts to curb excesses can narrow socioeconomic disparities, but as Clark Havighurst and Barak Richman observe, such measures may leave intact some of the regressive characteristics of the framework they supplant. Therefore, it seems appropriate to question whether t...

Dentistry and distributive justice.

There is a growing concern in most countries to address the problem of inequities in health-care within the context of financial restraints on the public purse and the realities of health professions that are influenced strongly by the economic priorities of free-market economies. Dental professionals, like other health professionals, are well aware that the public expects oral health-related s...

Quarantines and distributive justice.

Optimality Conditions for Distributive Justice

This paper uses optimization theory to address a fundamental question of ethics: how to divide resources justly among individuals, groups, or organizations. It formulates utilitarian and Rawlsian criteria for distributive justice as optimization problems. The formulations recognize that some recipients are more productive than others, so that an inequitable distribution may create greater overa...