Editorial: Income Distribution and the Class Struggle

Abstract

Income distribution is a confusing term. What scope is it to be given? Is it to be treated in a purely economic sense, bringing in social and political factors only when they are found to be useful for or obstacles to changing the income differentials in an economy? Is the argument for changing the distribution of income to be grounded in essentially instrumental reasoning changing the structure of demand so as to reduce balance of payments burdens, creating an internal market for national industry, reducing incentives to invest in capital intensive projects which yield little employment and enhance political instability - or is it to find its basis in arguments about the virtues of equality as such?