Economic justice relates to both just distribution of economic benefits, resources and opportunities as well as to a just economic structure. On the one hand, the liberal and the welfare perspectives see economic justice in terms of fair and adequate chances to earn livelihood and economic benefits in society. The Anarchists, Socialists and Marxian perspectives relate economic justice with abolition of private property and private ownership of means of production. Laski has related economic justice with industrial democracy and reduction of inequalities. Barker in his book Principles of Social and Political Theory has discussed various sources of justice and identifies economics as one of the sources of justice. He attributes discovery of justice in the area of economics to thinkers such as Marx, Bakunin, Proudhon and Duguit. He says that Marx identifies justice with ‘Communist Society’, Proudhon in ‘Mutualism’, Bakunin in ‘Anarchism’ and Duguit in ‘Solidarity’ of different occupational groups bound by a system of mutual exchange.
In the anarchist view, economic justice is absence of any form of private property. Godwin, Proudhon, Bakunin, Kropotkin and other anarchists rejected private property and advocated its abolition as the basis of a just social order based on free individual initiatives. For Utopian socialists such as St. Simon, François Babeuf and Louis Blanqui economic justice based on equal distribution was the sole basis of a just social order. For Laissez faire theorists such as Ricardo, Smith and Malthus, economic justice lies in non-intervention by the authority of the state in the economic initiatives of the individual. So will be the position of libertarians such as Hayek, Berlin, Friedman and Nozick. For liberals and supporters of a capitalist system, economic justice is nothing but freedom to private property and upholding conditions of contract. For welfare theorists, economic justice lies in equal economic opportunities such as work, employment, wages, etc., and meeting basic economic needs of the people. It also advocates income redistribution through taxation and transfers. For example, in India, we have a progressive taxation system (more you earn, more you pay as tax under progressive taxation) and transfer payments-based welfare programmes (such as old age pension to those who have no means to livelihood) to achieve redistribution and mitigate economic inequalities. For Marxian supporters, economic justice means communist ownership of the means of production, abolition of private property and absence of the state. According to the Marxian position, all other dimensions of justice (legal, social and political) are merely reflection of the economic justice. Without economic justice, no other form of justice could be realized. Hence, it seeks achieving economic justice to which other dimensions are related. Additionally, in the Marxian analysis, economic justice also implies end of exploitation and alienation.
Notwithstanding diverse connotations of economic justice, it is more appropriately associated with Marxian and welfarist positions. In the former, it is related with socialist mode of production, in the latter it identifies redistribution of income and other welfare benefits as primary objective.
In India, the Constitution through the Directive Principles of the State Policy (DPSP) seeks to project welfare state as a desirable goal. As part of this goal, economic justice is also envisaged. It exhorts the State to: (i) ‘strive to minimise the inequalities in income’ [Article 38], (ii) direct its policy towards securing—‘…adequate means of livelihood’, distribution of ‘ownership and control of the material resources of the community as best to subserve the common good’, ensure ‘that the operation of the economic system does not result in the concentration of wealth and means of production to the common detriment’, ‘equal pay for equal work for both men and women’, [Article 39], (iii) right to work [Article 41], (iv) living wages for workers [Article 43], (v) just and human condition of work [Article 42] and participation of workers in management of industries [Article 43A], etc. These are laudable welfarist and redistributionist goals. In fact, policy on nationalization, industrial regulation, taxation, and many other areas are influenced by these provisions. Indian Constitution envisages a welfare-based concept of economic justice.
Certainly, economic justice must mean at least minimum economic opportunity to earn livelihood and live with human dignity. Slavery, bonded and child labour and exploitation of marginalized sections of the society must be the minimum common denominator of judging relevance of the principle of economic justice.
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