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The Idea of Justice

Amartya Sen, Allen Lane, 2009, 465 pages, £25.

For decades most economists have concerned themselves with positive rather than normative issues. The typical member of our profession has been more comfortable estimating the effects of an increase in top rates of income tax on work incentives than making any pronouncement about what the distribution of income ought to be. However, this self-denying behaviour when it comes to questions of ought rather than is has been in retreat for some time. Whether it's been disagreeing with anti-globalisation campaigners or responding to the policy challenge of urban deprivation at home, many economists have been drawn into ethical debates. The collapse of the financial markets and subsequent recession have made normative questions about economics even more pressing, given that many critics are now asking whether the real world crisis has been actively caused by the narrow focus, the ideological blinkers of our subject.

For this reason alone, not to mention the intrinsic importance we can all agree attaches to the question of fairness, Amartya Sen's The Idea of Justice is a timely book. It straddles the border between welfare economics and theories of justice, and there are sections where the academic philosophy makes it tough going. Nevertheless, it is an essential read for anyone interested in the deep question of social welfare and social justice: what makes for a fair society and how can we assess whether we're making progress in improving people's well-being?

The book is not concerned with the narrower questions of 'happiness' or 'well-being' economics. On the contrary, Sen rejects the utilitarianism implied by that approach. He argues that it ignores the importance of people having the freedom to make their own choices, the capabilities that make choice genuine, and the justice of the processes through which 'outcomes' are achieved. All of these are for him essential parts of the social welfare assessment, and he sees the 'well-being' approach as inherently paternalistic and flawed. No doubt many people who are made uneasy by the elitist trend in happiness and behavioural economics will agree with this, even if they are not enthusiasts for Sen's well-known emphasis on capabilities as the metric for economic and human development.

The other attractive feature of Sen's argument in this book is his stress on the importance of moving in a reasonable, democratic way in the right direction, as opposed to the emphasis in predominant theories of social justice on achieving an ideal end-state. He argues that policies and developments in a society should be assessed, not by comparing them to an ideal, but by asking whether things are improving. What's more, to be just the assessment must be conducted through a process of reasoned public debate, in which we must expect a range of possibly conflicting perspectives. What matters is that there is a process which involves reasoning, demonstrating that those engaged in public debate do try to appeal to evidence and impartiality.

These issues might seem a bit too abstract to be of interest in everyday life, but the book ends with a section showing how to apply the principles of justice in practice. What's more, my experience over a number of years in the world of regulatory policy has convinced me of the practical importance of the process of decision making - although it too easily falls victim to legal game-playing, a structured conversation between all interested parties is essential for an acceptable outcome. So Sen's social welfare theory and philosophy is a worthwhile read even for those whose interest is in applied economics.

Diane Coyle
Enlightenment Economics

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