A Theory of Justice: Revised Edition by John Rawls

Author:John Rawls [Rawls, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Publisher: ePub Bud (www.epubbud.com)
Published: 2012-01-25T05:00:00+00:00

47. The Precepts of Justice

licly or privately owned) must adjust its rates of pay to the long-run forces of supply and demand. The rates firms pay cannot be so high that they cannot afford paying those rates or so low that a sufficient number will not offer their skills in view of the other opportunities available. In equilibrium the relative attractiveness of different jobs will be equal, all things considered. It is easy, then, to see how the various precepts of justice arise. They simply identify features of jobs that are significant on either the demand or the supply side of the market, or both. A firm’s demand for workers is determined by the marginal productivity of labor, that is, by the net value of the contribution of a unit of labor measured by the sale price of the commodities that it produces. The worth of this contribution to the firm rests eventually on market conditions, on what households are willing to pay for various goods. Experience and training, natural ability and special know-how, tend to earn a premium. Firms are willing to pay more to those with these characteristics because their productivity is greater. This fact explains and gives weight to the precept to each according to his contribution, and as special cases, we have the norms to each according to his training, or his experience, and the like.

But also, viewed from the supply side, a premium must be paid if those who may later offer their services are to be persuaded to undertake the costs of training and postponement. Similarly jobs which involve uncertain or unstable employment, or which are performed under hazardous and unpleasantly strenuous conditions, tend to receive more pay. Otherwise men cannot be found to fill them. From this circumstance arise such precepts as to each according to his effort, or the risks he bears, and so on.

Even when individuals are assumed to be of the same natural ability, these norms will still arise from the requirements of economic activity.

Given the aims of productive units and of those seeking work, certain characteristics are singled out as relevant. At any time the wage practices of firms tend to recognize these precepts and, allowing time for adjustment, assign them the weights called for by market conditions.

All of this seems reasonably clear. More important are several further points. For one thing, different conceptions of justice are likely to generate much the same common sense precepts. Thus in a society regulated by the principle of utility all of the above norms would most likely be recognized. So long as the aims of economic agents are sufficiently similar, these precepts are bound to be appealed to, and wage practices will explicitly take them into account. On the other hand, the weights that are assigned to these precepts will not in general be the same. It is here that conceptions of justice diverge. Not only will there be a tendency to 269

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