Essay on "Equality Efficiency Arthur Okun Argues"
Essay 3 pages (944 words) Sources: 1
[EXCERPT] . . . .
This, in essence, is why the U.S. functions one way and other democracies like Canada or Germany function another way. Their citizens have chosen a different set of tradeoffs than Americans have.Okun's view is clearly on the side that rights are superior to dollars, and that is a reasonable view for anyone to hold. However, it is just a personal viewpoint, one that nobody is obligated to agree with. He admits that a tradeoff must always exist because the conflict is inherent, and he places rights ahead of dollars in terms of prioritization. Thus, he naturally feels that a system where sometimes dollars are placed ahead of rights is faulty.
The reason why such a system can even exist is because some rights are not truly inalienable. That may be the wording of the Constitution, and it may be in theory what is expected of the legal system or the education system, but these "rights" are not a birthright. Rather, they must be granted by the government. Rights like life and liberty are a lot closer to being inalienable, but even those can be removed by government decree (the death penalty and incarceration, for example). Just as the government that seeks to deliver this rights is effectively admitting that for the purposes of maintaining order the inalienability of those rights must be waived for certain individuals, the purported inalienability of rights like equality before the law are subject to waiver as well. In the case of defense lawyers, the tradeoff made by government -- the American people -- derives from economic pragmatism.
Okun admits that if society seeks economic efficiency, such tradeoffs will inherently arise, arguing "egalitarianism in econ
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Quoted Instructions for "Equality Efficiency Arthur Okun Argues" Assignment:
“For the purpose of this paper, we are to read Chapters 1 & 2 of Arthur Okun's book, "Equality and Efficiency." Okun did most of his empirical work on labor markets and price theory. However, as a former policymaker and lucid *****, he was also capable of writing a book that describes as clearly as any the areas of conflict between market distribution and political rules. He also offers us a nice review and commentary on authors, from Smith and Mill to Hayek and Friedman.
Below are some notes you may use to write this paper. The paper must answer the following question: "Why, for Okun, must a clear line be drawn between dollars and rights? Do you agree with his reasoning?" The paper should essentially summarize Okun's arguments using the notes provided below and quotes and passages from the selected chapters, while also formulating some kind of critical commentary with regards to agree or disagreeing with his argument.
o According to Okun rights are equally distributed and inalienable, meaning they cannot be bought and sold o Additionally, they cannot be distributed as incentives, such as penalties or rewards o Rights must necessarily be held outside the market, according to Okun, because if rights are set at a price, they become a commodity and lose the “inalienability” that is so valuable because we believe people should not be able to get rid of their rights or have more rights than anyone else o Despite our desire to keep these two domains separate, Okun demonstrates that dollars often transgress upon rights o In particular, our right to equality before the law is often violated by dollars o The way the defense system is set up today, lawyers charge exorbitant sums and therefore only the rich can afford the best lawyers o Consequently, the wealthy have an advantage not afforded to the poor who are assigned public defenders, who ostensibly are not as talented as high paid private lawyers o This is only one of many unfortunate instances Okun gives of dollars transgressing upon rights
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“Equality Efficiency Arthur Okun Argues.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2012, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/equality-efficiency-arthur-okun-argues/4706598. Accessed 1 Jul 2024.
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