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The Principle of Merit and the capital-labour split

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2021

Jeppe von Platz Open the ORCID record for Jeppe von Platz [Opens in a new window]
Jeppe von Platz*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of Richmond, 410 Westhampton Way, University of Richmond, VA 23173, USA
*
Email: jplatz@richmond.edu
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Abstract

Some meritocratic defenders of capitalism rely on the principle that cooperators should receive a share of the product commensurate with their contribution. However, such defences of capitalism fail due to a dilemma. Either they rely on an understanding of contribution that arguably will be reflected by the capital-labour split in suitably idealized capitalist economies, but cannot serve as a plausible standard of merit; or they rely on an interpretation of contribution that is a plausible standard of merit, but which won’t tend to be reflected by the capital-labour split in capitalist economies.

Keywords

Capitalismdesertfairnessdistributive justicemerit

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Type
Article
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Economics & Philosophy , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , March 2022 , pp. 1 - 23
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© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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