Distributive Justice: The Right and Wrong of Our Present Distribution of WealthRyan, John A. (John Augustine)
PhilosophyChristian
Distributive Justice: The Right and Wrong of Our Present Distribution of Wealth
Ryan, John A. (John Augustine)
Economic history; Income distribution -- Moral and ethical aspects; Wealth -- Religious aspects
The product distributed in any country during a single year is
variously described by economists as the national product, the
national income, the national dividend. It consists not merely of
material goods, such as houses, food, clothing, and automobiles, but
also of those non-material goods known as services. Such are the tasks
performed by the domestic servant, the barber, the chauffeur, the
public official, the physician, the teacher; or any other personal
service "that is valued, as material commodities are valued, according
to their selling prices." Even the services of the clergyman are
included in the national income or product, since they are paid for
and form a part of the annual supply of good things produced and
distributed within the country. In the language of the economist,
anything that satisfies a human want is a utility, and forms part of
the national wealth; hence there can be no sufficient reason for
excluding from the national income goods which minister to spiritual
or intellectual wants. The services of the clergyman, the actor, the
author, the painter, and the physician are quite as much a part of the
utilities of life as the services of the cook, the chambermaid, or the
barber; and all are as clearly utilities as bread, hats, houses, or
any other material thing. In a general way, therefore, we say that the
national product which is available for distribution among the
different productive classes comprises all the utilities, material
and non-material, that are produced through human agents and satisfy
human desires.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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