Economic Justice

You can’t have social justice without economic justice, since you need money for basic things (shelter, food, healthcare, transportation, etc.).

When someone is talking about economic justice, they’re talking about creating institutions and systems that give people the basics they need to live a dignified life. It can also mean going beyond the bare-bones-things-needed-to-live-a-decent-life, all the way to full economic equality.

In general terms, economic justice would allow everyone in society to be productive via having their basic needs met. Things like closing the wealth gap between the rich and the poor, addressing workplace discrimination (race, sex, age, being a mom, what-have-you), and investing in various types of education at all income levels can help make the economy grow, make it more efficient, and make life generally more equitable.

An example of an economic justice policy is progressive taxation, which is where higher amounts of income are taxed at higher rates. This makes sense from a utilitarian sense: the less money you have, the more each dollar is worth to you—the more money you have, the less each dollar is worth to you.

Fun fact: three of the happiest countries in the world (Norway, Denmark, and Iceland) are all highly taxed (relative to their total GDPs) compared to other countries. So maybe we can buy happiness...in taxes. Who-woulda-thought?