Nationality, Distributive Justice and the Use of Force
Author(s)
Hausman, Daniel M.
Abstract
Even if they avoid expressing any moral views of their own, economists who seek to devise policies that are responsive to widely shared moral commitments need to understand what those commitments are. To help devise the best policies, economists need to understand the dimensions along which policies are assessed. Some of the most important of these dimensions are welfare, freedom, rights, equality, and justice. An acceptable formal characterization of freedom would make it possible for normative economics to address the implications of policy alternatives for both welfare and freedom. Normative economics would then be a much more valuable assistant in policy making than it is now. But to formulate an acceptable formal characterization of freedom requires that economists and their philosophical co-workers confront and conquer obscurities and ambiguities in the notion of freedom.
