Overview
P. J. Hill, professor of economics emeritus at Wheaton College (Illinois) and a senior fellow at the Property and Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Montana, delves into the topic of “Economic Inequality and Envy” based on a lecture he gave at Acton University 2022. Sarah Negri, research project coordinator at Acton, sits down with Hill to talk about the different kinds of economic inequality, the difference between inequality and poverty, and the economic and moral problems with envy being the modern standard mindset towards those who create mass wealth. They discuss the relationship between inequality and injustice with regard to human dignity, including what moral obligations might go hand in hand with being wealthy, as well as whether economic measures which have the goal of lessening inequality, such as resource transfers, are effective.
Growth and Welfare in the American Past
The Birth of a Transfer Society
The Not So Wild, Wild West: Property Rights on the Frontier
A Theory of Justice (John Rawls)
John Rawls’s “veil of ignorance” thought experiment
