IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/prg/jnlpol/v2023y2023i5id1400p518-535.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Kaldor-Hicks Improvement and Justice: To the Discussion on Normative Economics

Author

Listed:
  • Lukáš Augustin Máslo

Abstract

The author's main objective is to point out the existence of the paradox of involuntary improvement and to present a solution to this paradox. The paradox of involuntary improvement appears when a subject which suffers an injustice involuntarily still gets better off by this change. The suggested solution consists in the decomposition of the total effect of the pseudo-contract into the effect of the basic contract (which is desirable for the subject) and the effect of the super-contract (which is undesirable for the subject). Such a decomposition is not arbitrary, in the author's view, but necessary because it reflects the self-contradictory nature of the pseudo-contract, such as usury and sale/purchase at an unjust price. The author argues that the contract of usury and sale/purchase at an unjust price do not represent cases of Pareto improvement but rather cases of Kaldor-Hicks improvement (Kaldor, 1939; Hicks, 1939). The author's complementary objective is to show that the positive - normative dichotomy is an artificially created distinction which is supposed to cut off economics from its mother discipline, philosophy, and which moral sceptics used to deprive moral philosophy of the status of science.

Suggested Citation

  • Lukáš Augustin Máslo, 2023. "Kaldor-Hicks Improvement and Justice: To the Discussion on Normative Economics," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2023(5), pages 518-535.
    • Handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpol:v:2023:y:2023:i:5:id:1400:p:518-535
    DOI: 10.18267/j.polek.1400
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://polek.vse.cz/doi/10.18267/j.polek.1400.html
    Download Restriction: free of charge
    File URL: http://polek.vse.cz/doi/10.18267/j.polek.1400.pdf
    Download Restriction: free of charge
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.18267/j.polek.1400?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Colander & Huei-Chun Su, 2015. "Making sense of economists' positive-normative distinction," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(2), pages 157-170, June.
    2. Mark Blaug, 2007. "The Fundamental Theorems of Modern Welfare Economics, Historically Contemplated," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 39(2), pages 185-207, Summer.
    3. Jan Peil & Irene van Staveren (ed.), 2009. "Handbook of Economics and Ethics," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 4252, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lukáš Augustin Máslo, . "Kaldor-Hicks Improvement and Justice: To the Discussion on Normative Economics," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 0.
    2. Eduard Hartwich & Alexander Rieger & Johannes Sedlmeir & Dominik Jurek & Gilbert Fridgen, 2023. "Machine economies," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 33(1), pages 1-13, December.
    3. Kader, Haithem, 2021. "Human well-being, morality and the economy: an Islamic perspective," Islamic Economic Studies, The Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), vol. 28, pages 102-123.
    4. Hendrik P. van Dalen, 2019. "Values of Economists Matter in the Art and Science of Economics," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(3), pages 472-499, August.
    5. Abraham Singer, 2018. "Justice Failure: Efficiency and Equality in Business Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(1), pages 97-115, April.
    6. Jo, Tae-Hee, 2011. "Heterodox Critiques of Corporate Social Responsibility," MPRA Paper 35367, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Rafael Galvão de Almeida, 2020. "Comment on 'The Empirical Success of Keynesianism' by Donald Gillies," Economic Thought, World Economics Association, vol. 9(1), pages 44-47, July.
    8. Irene van Staveren, 2014. "The Lehman Sisters hypothesis," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 38(5), pages 995-1014.
    9. Fabian Scholtes & Daniel Neff & Florian Lampe, 2018. "The Role And Sources Of Agency And Self-Employment Over The Life Course: Micro-Entrepreneurs In Kampala, Uganda," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(04), pages 1-21, December.
    10. Menudo, Jose M., 2011. "Market Stability in Adam Smith: Competitive Process and Institutions," MPRA Paper 15361, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Grainger, Daniel & Watkin-Lui, Felecia & Cheer, Karen, 2021. "The value of informed agency for Torres Strait climate change," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    12. Richard G. Lipsey, 2017. "Generality Versus Context Specificity: First, Second and Third Best in Theory and Policy," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 167-177, May.
    13. Alejandra Boni Aristizabal & Enrica Chiappero & Andrés Hueso González & Monserrath X. Lascano Galarza & Luigi Bisceglia, 2014. "Analizando programas de Máster en el ámbito de la cooperación al desarrollo desde la perspectiva del desarrollo humano: exploración y comparación de tres experiencias," Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación volume 9, in: Adela García Aracil & Isabel Neira Gómez (ed.), Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación 9, edition 1, volume 9, chapter 2, pages 59-89, Asociación de Economía de la Educación.
    14. Silvestri, Paolo, 2015. "Disputed (Disciplinary) Boundaries. Philosophy, Economics, Value Judgments," CESMEP Working Papers 201504, University of Turin.
    15. van Staveren, I.P., 2012. "The Lehman Sisters Hypothesis: an exploration of literature and bankers," ISS Working Papers - General Series 545, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    16. Vela Velupillai, K., 2014. "Constructive and computable Hahn–Banach theorems for the (second) fundamental theorem of welfare economics," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 36-39.
    17. Mabsout, Ramzi, 2015. "Mindful capability," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 86-97.
    18. Claudius Gräbner & Birte Strunk, 2020. "Pluralism in economics: its critiques and their lessons," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(4), pages 311-329, October.
    19. Martha A. Starr, 2010. "Increasing the Impact of Heterodox Work: Insights from RoSE," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(5), pages 1453-1474, November.
    20. Ali, Ershad & Talukder, Dayal, 2010. "Agricultural Trade Liberalisation and Economic Growth in Developing Countries: Analysis of Distributional Consequences," Estey Centre Journal of International Law and Trade Policy, Estey Centre for Law and Economics in International Trade, vol. 11(2), pages 1-13, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Kaldor-Hicks improvement; Pareto improvement; normative economics; equality in exchange; usury; just price;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A12 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines
    • B41 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Economic Methodology - - - Economic Methodology
    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:prg:jnlpol:v:2023:y:2023:i:5:id:1400:p:518-535. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Stanislav Vojir (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/uevsecz.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.